| Definition | A class of glycerophospholipid in which a phosphorylethanolamine moiety occupies a glycerol substitution site. As is the case with diacylglycerols, glycerophosphocholines can have many different combinations of fatty acids of varying lengths and saturation attached at the SN-1 and SN-2 positions. fatty acids containing 16, 18 and 20 carbons are the most common. (LipidMAPS)
PE(dm18:0/20:4(5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z)) is a phosphatidylethanolamine (PE or GPEtn). It is a glycerophospholipid in which a phosphorylethanolamine moiety occupies a glycerol substitution site. As is the case with diacylglycerols, glycerophosphoethanolamines can have many different combinations of fatty acids of varying lengths and saturation attached at the C-1 and C-2 positions. Fatty acids containing 16, 18 and 20 carbons are the most common. PE(dm18:0/20:4(5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z)), in particular, consists of one chain of plasmalogen 18:0 at the C-1 position and one chain of arachidonic acid at the C-2 position. The plasmalogen 18:0 moiety is derived from animal fats, liver and kidney, while the arachidonic acid moiety is derived from animal fats and eggs. Phospholipids, are ubiquitous in nature and are key components of the lipid bilayer of cells, as well as being involved in metabolism and signaling.
While most phospholipids have a saturated fatty acid on C-1 and an unsaturated fatty acid on C-2 of the glycerol backbone, the fatty acid distribution at the C-1 and C-2 positions of glycerol within phospholipids is continually in flux, owing to phospholipid degradation and the continuous phospholipid remodeling that occurs while these molecules are in membranes. PEs are neutral zwitterions at physiological pH. They mostly have palmitic or stearic acid on carbon 1 and a long chain unsaturated fatty acid (e.g. 18:2, 20:4 and 22:6) on carbon 2. PE synthesis can occur via two pathways. The first requires that ethanolamine be activated by phosphorylation and then coupled to CDP. The ethanolamine is then transferred from CDP-ethanolamine to phosphatidic acid to yield PE. The second involves the decarboxylation of PS.
Plasmalogens are glycerol ether phospholipids. They are of two types, alkyl ether (-O-CH2-) and alkenyl ether (-O-CH=CH-). Dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) serves as the glycerol precursor for the synthesis of plasmalogens. Three major classes of plasmalogens have been identified: choline, ethanolamine and serine derivatives. Ethanolamine plasmalogen is prevalent in myelin. Choline plasmalogen is abundant in cardiac tissue. Usually, the highest proportion of the plasmalogen form is in the ethanolamine class with rather less in choline, and commonly little or none in other phospholipids such as phosphatidylinositol. In choline plasmalogens of most tissues, a higher proportion is often of the O-alkyl rather than the O-alkenyl form, but the reverse tends to be true in heart lipids. In animal tissues, the alkyl and alkenyl moieties in both non-polar and phospholipids tend to be rather simple in composition with 16:0, 18:0 and 18:1 (double bond in position 9) predominating. Ether analogues of triacylglycerols, i.e. 1-alkyldiacyl-sn-glycerols, are present at trace levels only if at all in most animal tissues, but they can be major components of some marine lipids. [HMDB] |
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