Shunji Kato

Tocotrienol Distribution in Foods: Estimation of Daily Tocotrienol Intake of Japanese Population

Tocotrienol (T3) is an unsaturated form of natural vitamin E that has been focused on because of its potential health benefits (i.e., antioxidative, antihypercholesterolemic, and antiangiogenic effects). The presence of T3 in some plant sources (e.g., rice bran and palm oil) is known, but its distribution in other edible sources and its daily intake remain unclear. In this study, we aimed at clarifying the distribution of T3 in various food sources and estimating the daily T3 intake of Japanese population. T3 contents of 242 food items and 64 meal items were measured by using normal-phase HPLC with fluorescence detection. As for the results, T3 contents were nondetectable to 12 mg T3/kg wet wt of food items, and nondetectable to 1.3 mg T3/item of processed (cooked) meal. Accordingly, the daily intake of T3 was estimated as 1.9-2.1 mg T3/day/person. The estimated daily intake of T3 appears rather low compared with the intake of tocopherol (8-10 mg/day/person as reported in the Japanese National Nutrition Survey), and additional T3 is important for its therapeutic aspects.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry determination of human plasma 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoyl-phosphatidylcholine isomers via promotion of sodium adduct formation.

Accumulation of phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH), a primary oxidation product of phosphatidylcholine, in blood plasma has been observed in various pathological conditions, including atherosclerosis. In this study, we investigated the use of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to develop a method for accurate quantification of PCOOH (1-palmitoyl-2-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, 16:0/HpODE PC), focusing on isomers such as 16:0/13-HpODE PC and 16:0/9-HpODE PC. Sodiated PCOOH ([M+Na](+), m/z 812) provided not only a known product ion (m/z 147) but also characteristic product ions (m/z 541 for 16:0/13-HpODE PC and m/z 388 for 16:0/9-HpODE PC). Thus, three multiple reaction monitorings (MRMs) could be performed. MRM (812/147) enabled determination of 16:0/HpODE PC, and MRM (812/541) and MRM (812/388) allowed specific measurement of 16:0/13-HpODE PC and 16:0/9-HpODE PC, respectively. By using this method, we could determine plasma PCOOH concentrations in healthy subjects and patients with angiographically significant stenosis. In healthy subject and patient plasma, the concentration of 16:0/HpODE PC was close to the sum of the concentrations of 16:0/13-HpODE PC and 16:0/9-HpODE PC. This finding shows that radical and/or enzymatic oxidation, rather than singlet oxygen oxidation, is recognized to cause peroxidation of PC. The newly developed LC-MS/MS method appears to be a powerful tool for developing a better understanding of in vivo lipid peroxidation and its involvement in human diseases.

The combination of maternal and offspring high-fat diets causes marked oxidative stress and development of metabolic syndrome in mouse offspring

Maternal overnutrition (e.g., high-fat (HF) diet) during pregnancy and lactation is believed to cause oxidative stress and increase the risk of metabolic syndrome in offspring. In the present study, we investigated the effects of both maternal and offspring HF diets on metabolic syndrome risk and oxidative stress profiles in mice. Dams of the C57BL/6J mouse strain were fed a HF or control (CO) diet during gestation and lactation. Offspring were weaned at 3weeks of age. The female offspring were sacrificed at weaning, while the males were maintained on the HF or CO diet until 11weeks of age. Tissue samples, including those from liver, were collected from offspring at 3 and 11weeks of age, and lipids, phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH, an oxidative stress marker), and gene expression were evaluated. Accumulation of lipids, but not PCOOH, was found in the livers of 3-week-old offspring from dams fed the HF diet. When the offspring were maintained on a HF diet until 11weeks of age, marked accumulation of both liver lipids and PCOOH was observed. PCOOH manifestation was supported by the expression of genes such as Gpx4, encoding a PCOOH degrading enzyme. These results suggest that the combination of maternal and offspring overnutrition causes marked oxidative stress in offspring, which accelerates metabolic syndrome. The present findings in offspring from infancy to adulthood may be useful for better understanding the cause-and-effect relationships between oxidative stress and metabolic syndrome development.

Metabolic Fate of Luteolin in Rats: Its Relationship to Anti-inflammatory Effect

Luteolin is a naturally occurring flavone that reportedly has anti-inflammatory effects. Because most luteolin is conjugated following intestinal absorption, free luteolin is likely present at low levels in the body. Therefore, luteolin metabolites are presumably responsible for luteolin bioactivity. Here we confirmed that luteolin glucuronides, especially luteolin-3-O-glucuronide, are the major metabolites found in plasma after oral administration of luteolin (aglycone) or luteolin glucoside (luteolin-7-O-glucoside) to rats. Luteolin-4-O-glucuronide and luteolin-7-O-glucuronide were also detectable together with luteolin-3-O-glucuronide in the liver, kidney, and small intestine. Next, we prepared these luteolin glucuronides and compared the anti-inflammatory effects of luteolin and luteolin glucuronides on gene expression in lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW264.7 cells. Luteolin glucuronides, especially luteolin-7-O-glucuronide, reduced expression of inflammatory genes in the cells, although their effects were weaker than those of luteolin. These results indicate that the active compound responsible for the anti-inflammatory effect of luteolin in vivo would be luteolin glucuronide and/or residual luteolin.

Direct separation of the diastereomers of phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide bearing 13-hydroperoxy-9Z,11E-octadecadienoic acid using chiral stationary phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Increasing evidence suggests that phospholipid peroxidation plays important roles in the pathogenesis of various diseases, such as atherosclerosis. With regard to the biochemical processes that initiate phospholipid peroxidation in vivo, enzymatic conversion of phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH) by lipoxygenase (LOX) may play a crucial role. This will become clear if we can analyze PCOOH bearing hydroperoxy fatty acids with S-stereoconfiguration. In this study, we therefore attempted such an analysis. Initially, we used LOX, linoleic acid and Lyso phosphatidylcholine, and synthesized PCOOH bearing 13S-hydroperoxy-9Z,11E-octadecadienoic acid (13(S)-9Z,11E-HPODE). PCOOH bearing racemic 13-9Z,11E-HPODE was also prepared. We used liquid chromatography equipped with CHIRALPAK OP (+) (poly (o-pyridyl diphenylmethacrylate) coated on silica), a UV detector and a quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometer, and achieved diastereomer separation of PCOOH stereoisomers with excellent resolution and peak shape. This is the first study reporting the diastereomer separation of PCOOH. The present method will be beneficial in developing a better understanding of the biochemical processes that initiate oxidative stress (PCOOH formation) in vivo, which may lead to further elucidation of the involvement of PCOOH in the development of diseases. In addition to clinical applications, the present method may also be effective in the evaluation of enzymatic oxidative food deterioration.

Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Linoleic and Arachidonic Acid Hydroperoxides via Promotion of Alkali Metal Adduct Formation

Recently, we demonstrated that tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis in the presence of sodium ions was useful for identification of the position of the hydroperoxy group in phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH). Likewise, MS/MS may enable identification of the hydroperoxy group position in various lipid hydroperoxides (LOOHs). To this end, we prepared major LOOHs, namely hydroperoxyoctadecadienoic acid (HPODE) and hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HPETE), and analyzed them by quadrupole-time-of-flight MS/MS in both the absence and presence of alkali metals. Photo-oxidation (singlet oxygen-induced oxidation) of linoleic acid (LA) was used to prepare 9-10E,12Z-HPODE, 9-10E,12E-HPODE, 10-8E,12Z-HPODE, 12-9Z,13E-HPODE, 13-9Z,11E-HPODE, and 13-9E,11E-HPODE. Each isomer was analyzed under various MS/MS conditions (e.g., absence and presence of sodium). We found that in the presence of alkali metals, especially sodium, collision-induced dissociation (CID) of all HPODE isomers yielded structure-diagnostic fragment ions that were highly useful in identifying the position of the hydroperoxy group. For instance, CID spectra of sodiated 13-9Z,11E-HPODE revealed a neutral loss of 88 Da arising from fragmentation of the hydroperoxy group. Similar results were observed for HPETE isomers. Following oxidation of LA (or arachidonic acid) by lipoxygenase, the hydroperoxy group position of the resultant HPODE (or HPETE) was easily identified using this method, without any chromatographic separation processes. As information on the position of the hydroperoxy group provides insight into the processes that initiate lipid peroxidation (e.g., enzymatic oxidation, auto-oxidation and singlet oxygen-induced oxidation), the proposed method may be useful in elucidating the involvement and mechanism of lipid peroxidation in food deterioration and pathophysiological processes.

Phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide promotes VEGF-induced angiogenesis in endothelial cells and rat aorta ring cultures.

BACKGROUNDnPhosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH) is a primary oxidation product of PC, and is markedly accumulated in blood plasma and arterial walls in atherosclerotic animals and humans. The role of PCOOH in the induction of angiogenesis is unknown.nnnMETHODSnIn this study, we investigated whether PCOOH stimulated angiogenic responses (e.g., vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation, and angiogenesis-related gene/protein expression) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and in an ex vivo rat aorta model.nnnRESULTSnVEGF induced proliferation, migration, and tube formation of HUVEC, and these angiogenic responses were all enhanced by PCOOH but not by native (nonoxidized) PC. The angiogenic effects of PCOOH are considered to be mediated via generation of reactive oxygen species and activation of both PI3K/AKT and MAPK pathways. The angiogenic activities of PCOOH were also confirmed by the rat aortic ring assay.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThese results indicate that PCOOH can elicit several angiogenic responses.nnnGENERAL SIGNIFICANCEnThe present study implies an important role of PCOOH in atherosclerosis progression and plaque instability.

Oxidative Stress during Development of Alcoholic Fatty Liver: Therapeutic Potential of Cacao Polyphenol

The lipid and antioxidative/oxidative profiles of livers from rats fed an ethanol liquid diet for 8 weeks provided evidence for an involvement of oxidative stress (e.g., phospholipid peroxidation) in the development of alcoholic fatty liver (AFL), possibly in an early stage. Cacao polyphenol supplementation produced an ameliorating effect, and may help in AFL prevention.

Determination of Phosphatidylcholine Hydroperoxide (PCOOH) as a Marker of Membrane Lipid Peroxidation.

Increasing evidence for phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH) as a marker of oxidative food deterioration and oxidative diseases has revealed the need for a pure PCOOH standard and a reliable quantification method. Recently, we synthesized the PCOOH isomers 1-palmitoyl-2-(9-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, (16:0/9-HpODE PC) and 1-palmitoyl-2-(13-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (16:0/13-HpODE PC). Using these standards along with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, a reliable quantification method was developed. This mini-review describes these analytical techniques, with a particular emphasis on clinical sample analysis.

MS/MS and LC-MS/MS analysis of choline/ethanolamine plasmalogens via promotion of alkali metal adduct formation.

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has been used for the analysis of plasmalogen (Pls), a physiologically important class of vinyl ether-linked phospholipid. However, MS/MS generally causes little fragmentation of Pls, especially choline Pls (PC-Pls). Previous MS/MS studies reported an increased formation of product ions of PC-Pls (and also ethanolamine Pls (PE-Pls)) in the presence of alkali metals. Therefore, use of alkali metals considerably leads to the development of a method for analysis of both PC- and PE-Pls. In this study, this notion was evaluated using quadrupole-time-of-flight MS/MS and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with MS/MS. Results from MS/MS confirmed that alkali metals (e.g., sodium) produced significant fragmentation of PC-Pls and PE-Pls. A number of structure-diagnostic product ions exhibiting high intensities were observed under optimized MS/MS conditions using alkali metals. Moreover, the ability to selectively and sensitively identify PC-Pls and PE-Pls at the molecular species level in biological samples (rat brain and heart) was demonstrated using LC-MS/MS. Therefore, the herein developed method appears to be a powerful tool for analyzing Pls and may provide a better understanding of their physiological roles in vivo.