| Sea cucumber industry has developed rapidly during the past decades in China.In2012, the aquaculture production of sea cucumbers has reached170,000tons, andthe annual output value has been more than30billion RMB. As the precious marinefood and medicine, sea cucumbers have many nutritional and physiological functionswhich contribute to their great commercial value. Apostichopus japonicus, the mainsea cucumber species consumed and cultured in China, is farmed in many areaswidely distributed in the north and south coast of the country. The nutrientcompositions and biological activitites may be different among sea cucumber (A.japonicus) from different regions. Therefore, it is important to establish an effectivemethod for authenticating the geographical origin of sea cucumber (A. japonicus)samples. The nutritional values of sea cucumber (A. japonicus) from different regionsare also necessary to be evaluated in order to ensure the healthy development of thewhole sea cucumber industry.Elemental fingerprints were firstly investigated for their potential to classify seacucumber (A. japonicus) samples according to their geographical origin. Fifteenelements in39sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samples from three water environments(Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea) of China were quantitatively analyzed byinductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Pattern recognitiontechniques including principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA,squared Euclidean distance between objects and between-groups linkage method as aclustering procedure) and stepwise discriminate analysis (DA) were used for thispurpose. Fifteen elements (Al、V、Cr、Mn、Fe、Co、Ni、Cu、Zn、As、Se、Mo、Cd、Hg and Pb) in the sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samples of different regionsshowed significant differences. Furthermore, sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samplesfrom three water environments were accurately differentiated by PCA and CA. DAgave an overall correct classification rate of100.0%and cross-validation rate of100.0%. These results demonstrated the usefulness of the multi-element analysiscombined with pattern recognition techniques for authenticating of the geographical origin of sea cucumber (A. japonicus) in China.The nutritent components (protein, polysaccharide, saponin, lipid, fatty acidcomposition, amino acid composition) of sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samples fromdifferent regions were analyzed. The results showed that protein, polysaccharide, andsaponin contents in sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samples of the south area (EastChina Sea) differed greatly from those of the north area (Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea),while these indexes were basically the same between samples from Bohai Sea andYellow Sea. There were no significant differences in amino acid compositions of seacucumber (A. japonicus) from different regions. The contents and compositions of n-3PUFA in the phospholipids of sea cucumber (A. japonicus) from different regionswere prominently different.To evaluate the nutritional values of sea cucumber (A.japonicus) samples fromdifferent regions, expounding the physiological functions of phospholipids withdifferent fatty acid compositions is necessary. Three kinds of phospholipids enrichedin n-3PUFA, n-6PUFA, or SFA/MUFA were prepared, respectively. The effects ofn-3PUFA-enriched phospholipids, n-6PUFA-enriched phospholipids andSFA/MUFA-enriched phospholipids on metabolic syndrome were then comparativelystudied. The results showed that phospholipids with different fatty acid compositionspresented different activities in alleviating obesity, inflammatory reaction, glucosemetabolism and lipid metabolism. The biological activities of n-3PUFA-enrichedphospholipid were superior to the other two kinds of phospholipids. The changes ofn-3PUFA compositions in phospholipids also affect their biological activities. BothDHA-enriched phospholipids (DHA-PL) and EPA-enriched phospholipids (EPA-PL)could efficaciously alleviated obesity-related metabolic disorders but the ameliorativedegree and regulatory mechanisms are not completely identical. The anti-obesity andlipid-lowering effects of EPA-PL were superior to DHA-PL, while DHA-PL exhibitedbetter anti-hypertension effects. The effects of DHA-PL and EPA-PL on glucoseintolerance were basically equivalent. DHA-PL and EPA-PL could ameliorate glucosemetabolism through improving the adiponectin secretion ability of adipose tissue,inhibiting inflammatory reaction, promoting the synthesis of hepatic glycogen and theglucose uptake and utilization in adipose tissue. The regulatory mechanisms ofDHA-PL and EPA-PL on lipid metabolism were different, although DHA-PL andEPA-PL could effectively suppressed hepatic SREBP-1c mediated lipogenesis,EPA-PL also could significantly activated PPARα mediated fatty acid β-oxidation in the liver. The results showed that the activation of PPARα induced by EPA-PLresulted in its biological activities different from DHA-PL.The effects of DHA-PL and EPA-PL on obesity-related fatty liver disease werefurther comparatively studied. The results showed that EPA-PL efficiently enhancedthe mRNA expression of genes involved in hepatic fatty acid β-oxidation throughactivating PPARα. The hepatic lipid accumulation in C57BL-KsJ db/db mice wasefficiently ameliorated by EPA-PL, while DHA-PL didn’t present any apparenteffects.In conclusion, this study has established an effective method for authenticatingthe geographical origin of sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samples, elucidated thedifferences in nutrient components of sea cucumber (A. japonicus) samples fromdifferent regions and clarified the disparate biological activities of phospholipids withdifferent fatty acid compositions, which would provide the scientific basis for thenutritional assessment of sea cucumbers. |
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