Lipidomics Screening of Polyunsaturated Phospholipid Molecular Species in Crab (Portunus trituberculatus) Muscular Tissue: A Nontarget Approach by HILIC-MS

The phospholipid molecular species (PMS) in the muscular tissue of the swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus) are extracted and quantified using aminopropyl coated silica-based solid-phase extraction (SPE) and hydrophilic interaction chromatography-mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS), respectively. Once the lipidomics profile is acquired, the contents of PMS are semiquantitatively determined using linear regression models. It is found that in swimming crab, phosphatidylcholine (PC, 14.30 mg g(-1)) is the most abundant phospholipid class, followed by phosphatidylethanolamine (PE, 8.20 mg g(-1)), phosphatidylinositol (PI, 1.60 mg g(-1)), and phosphatidylserine (PS, 9.83 mg g(-1)). The nutritional eicosapentaenoic acid and/or docosahexaenoic acid structured phospholipids exist in swimming crabs, such as PC 18:0/20:5, PE 18:1/20:5 and 16:0/22:6, PI 18:0/20:5. Besides, plasmalogens are detected, such as PC o-16:0/22:6 and PE o-18:0/20:5. Finally, this method is validated to be efficient and accurate in terms of linearity (correlation coefficients, R-2 0.9976 to 0.9993), sensitivity (limit of detection, LOD, 0.22-0.33 mu g mL(-1)), precision (relative standard deviation, RSDintra-day <= 4.11%), and recovery (78% to 85%, RSD <= 5.79%). In conclusion, swimming crab is rich in health-beneficial phospholipids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid and/or docosahexaenoic acid structured phospholipids and plasmalogens, and the muscular tissue is proved to be of high nutritional value. Practical Applications: The study introduces a potential method for the lipidomics screening of polyunsaturated phospholipid molecular species in food.

Automated summary

The study successfully extracts and quantifies phospholipid molecular species in the muscular tissue of swimming crab, finding high levels of beneficial phospholipids like eicosapentaenoic acid and plasmalogens. The method used was validated to be efficient and accurate, making the muscular tissue of swimming crab a valuable source of nutrition.