Explore the vast range of titles available.

The lipid compositions of the seed oils of some Nigella species were investigated. The total oil content of the seeds ranged from 28.0 to 36.4%. GC-MS fatty acid compositional analysis of the Nigella seed oils revealed the content of linoleic acid to be the highest (40.3-58.9%). Other prominent fatty acids were as follows: oleic (18.7-28.1%), palmitic (10.1-12.5%), 22:1 D11 (3.2-3.8%) and stearic (2.6-3.1%) acids. All the Nigella seed oils analysed exhibited differences in their tocopherol contents. The oils extracted from the seeds contained between 1.70-4.12 mg/100 g alpha-T, 0.97-4.51 mg/100 g gamma-T, and 4.90-17.91 mg/100 g beta-T3. The total tocopherol content in seeds varied between 9.15 mg/100 g to 24.65 mg/100 g. The compositions of the sterol fractions were determined by gas liquid chromatography. The total amounts of sterols ranged between 1,993.07 mg/kg to 2,182.17 mg/kg. The main component was beta-sitosterol (48.35-51.92%), followed by 5-avenasterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol.

Like obese humans, Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats exhibit early β cell compensation for insulin resistance (4-fold β cell hyperplasia) followed by decompensation (>50% loss of β cells). In prediabetic and diabetic ZDF islets, apoptosis measured by DNA laddering is increased 3- and >7-fold, respectively, compared with lean ZDF controls. Ceramide, a fatty acid-containing messenger in cytokine-induced apoptosis, was significantly increased (P < 0.01) in prediabetic and diabetic islets. Free fatty acids (FFAs) in plasma are high (>1 mM) in prediabetic and diabetic ZDF rats; therefore, we cultured prediabetic islets in 1 mM FFA. DNA laddering rose to 19.6% vs. 4.6% in lean control islets, preceded by an 82% increase in ceramide. C2-Ceramide without FFA induced DNA laddering, but fumonisin B1, a ceramide synthetase inhibitor, completely blocked FFA-induced DNA laddering in cultured ZDF islets. [3H]Palmitate incorporation in [3H]ceramide in ZDF islets was twice that of controls, but [3H]palmitate oxidation was 77% less. Triacsin C, an inhibitor of fatty acyl-CoA synthetase, and troglitazone, an enhancer of FFA oxidation in ZDF islets, both blocked DNA laddering. These agents also reduced inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase mRNA and NO production, which are involved in FFA-induced apoptosis. In ZDF obesity, β cell apoptosis is induced by increased FFA via de novo ceramide formation and increased NO production.

In this study, fruits, fruit flesh and seeds of Rosa damascena and Rosa canina were assayed for the composition of fatty acids, ascorbic acid, alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, and mineral elements. The concentration of linoleic acid in seed oil of R. damascena (54.18%) was higher than in R. canina (48.84%). Alpha-tocopherol concentrations were found to be 7.10 microg/g and 34.20 microg/g for R. damascena and R. canina fruits, respectively. Ascorbic acid conc. was determined as the highest in the fruit flesh (546 mg/100 g in R. damascena and 2,200 mg/100 g in R. canina), and as the lowest in the seeds of both species. R. damascena fruits were found to be richer in minerals such as Ca, Fe, K, Mn, Na, P, and Zn than R. canina fruits. The results of the present study showed that R. damascena fruits could be used as food and food additive equally as rose hip fruits.

Walnuts of five cultivars (Sampion, Jupiter, Sejnovo, Elit, and Geisenheim 139) of Juglans regia were collected during the 2008 harvest in Cacak, Central Serbia. Two techniques of oil extraction were implemented - cold pressing and organic solvent extraction. The influence of the implemented methods on the fatty acid composition, tocopherol level as well as oxidative stability was examined. Predominant fatty acids were palmitic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. The oleic acid concentration ranged from 15.9_23.7% of the total fatty acids, while the linoleic acid concentration ranged from 57.2-65.1% and that of linolenic acid from 9.1-13.6%. The process of oil extraction had no significant effect on the concentration and composition of fatty acids in the oil. The total concentration of tocopherols ranged from 28.40 mg/100 g to 42.40 mg/100 g of the extracted oil. The most common tocopherol in all samples was gamma-tocopherol. The oil extracted using the Soxhlet method contained higher amounts of total tocopherols while the stability of the oil samples (expressed as induction period) ranged from 5.0 h to 7.1 hours. Reduced stability of the oil samples as measured by the Rancimat method was negatively correlated with the level of linolenic acid and total content of tocopherols.

Leptin is currently believed to control body composition largely, if not entirely, via hypothalamic receptors that regulate food intake and thermogenesis. Here we demonstrate direct extraneural effects of leptin to deplete fat content of both adipocytes and nonadipocytes to levels far below those of pairfed controls. In cultured pancreatic islets, leptin lowered triglyceride (TG) content by preventing TG formation from free fatty acids (FFA) and by increasing FFA oxidation. In vivo hyperleptinemia, induced in normal rats by adenovirus gene transfer, depleted TG content in liver, skeletal muscle, and pancreas without increasing plasma FFA or ketones, suggesting intracellular oxidation. In islets of obese Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats with leptin receptor mutations, leptin had no effect in vivo or in vitro. The TG content was approximately 20 times normal, and esterification capacity was increased 3- to 4-fold. Thus, in rats with normal leptin receptors but not in Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats, nonadipocytes and adipocytes sterify FFA, store them as TG, and later oxidize them intracellularly via an \"indirect pathway\" of intracellular fatty acid metabolism controlled by leptin. By maintaining insulin sensitivity and preventing islet lipotoxicity, this activity of leptin may prevent adipogenic diabetes

The stability of olive and sunflower oils for domestic uses after frying cow steak or only heating were evaluated in the presence or absence of the carvacrol-rich essential oil of Thymbra capitata. The treatments consisted of sunflower and olive oils either enriched with 200 mg/l of T. capitata oil or without it, heating at 180 deg C for 20 min, or frying 100 g cow steak at the same temperature and for the same period of time. In all assays, acid, peroxide, and p-anisidine values were followed over time. The fatty acid profile was estimated before heating or frying as well as at the end of the experiment. The results showed that the type of fat as well as the type of treatment (frying or heating) was determinant for the acid, peroxide, and p-anisidine values found. The presence of the essential oil also demonstrated to affect those values depending on the type of the oil as well as on the type of the treatment (frying or heating). In contrast, the fatty acid profile did not change greatly.

Chemical composition and fatty acid profile of fillets from farmed and wild common carp were assessed in the course of four seasons. Ten wild and ten farmed fish were collected in the middle month of each season (except summer due to unavailability of wild fish) during the year. Protein and lipid concentrations in the samples decreased from summer to spring as follows: protein conc.: from 17.6+/-0.3% to 15.9+/-1.6% (farmed fish) and from 18.2+/-0.1% to 17.9+/-1.4% (wild fish); lipid conc.: from 5.1+/-0.2% to 1.5+/-0.5% (farmed fish) and from 3.8+/-0.6% to 2.8+/-0.9% (wild fish), moisture conc. of both samples increased in this period as follows: from 76.7+/-1.4% to 81.4+/-0.4% (farmed fish) and from 75.5+/-0.6% to 78.5+/-0.2% (wild fish). Protein conc. of wild carp fillet was higher and moisture conc. was lower than those of the farmed counterparts (17.7+/-0.8% vs. 16.2+/-1.2% and 77.65+/-0.6 vs. 79.3+/-0.1, resp., P less than 0.05). In all seasons, MUFA were higher than SFA and PUFA. In the wild carp fillet, PUFA was higher than SFA in winter and spring but in the farmed carp it was higher in all seasons except the spring. Palmitic, oleic, and DHA were the major fatty acids in the wild carp fillet, resp. In the farmed carp fillet, the major SFA and MUFA were similar to those in the wild one but linoleic acid was the major PUFA in all seasons. Omega-3/omega-6 PUFA ratios in the wild carp fillet were higher than in the farmed counterparts.

The compositions and concentrations of lipid classes, fatty acids and tocopherols were determined in the lipids from Spirulina platensis. Total lipids (TL) recovered using chloroform : methanol (2:1, v/v) were found to be 163.5 g/kg (on dry weight basis). The level of neutral lipids was the highest, followed by glycolipids and phospholipids, respectively. Among TL and lipid classes, palmitic, gamma-linolenic and linoleic acids were the dominating fatty acids. Compared with the neutral lipids, the polar fractions were generally characterised by higher percentages of saturated fatty acids. The recovered lipids were characterised by high percentage of tocopherols, wherein alpha-tocopherol constituted about 73% of total tocopherols present, the rest having been gamma-tocopherol. Spirulina platensis lipids exhibited a strong radical scavenging activity towards stable DPPH free radicals, whereas 27% of DPPH radicals were quenched after 2 h incubation. TL and lipid classes inhibited the growth of different microorganisms except gram-negative bacteria. At high concentrations, the tested lipids appeared more effective against A. niger (28.3+/-1.53 mm).

Obesity causes its complications through functional and morphologic damage to remotely situated tissues via undetermined mechanisms. In one rodent model of obesity, the Zucker diabetic fatty fa/fa rat, overaccumulation of triglycerides in the pancreatic islets may be responsible for a gradual depletion of beta cells, leading to the most common complication of obesity, non-insulin, dependent diabetes mellitus. At the onset of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, the islets from fa/fa rats contain up to 100 times the fat content of islets from normal lean rats. Ultimately, about 75% of the beta cells disappear from these fat-laden islets as a consequence of apoptosis induced by long-chain fatty acids (FA). Here we quantify Bcl-2, the anti-apoptosis factor in these islets, and find that Bcl-2 mRNA and protein are, respectively, 85% and 70% below controls. In normal islets cultured in 1 mM FA, Bcl-2 mRNA declined by 68% and completely disappeared in fa/fa islets cultured in FA. In both groups, suppression was completely blocked by the fatty acyl-CoA synthetase inhibitor, triacsin C, evidence of its mediation by fatty acyl-CoA. To determine whether leptin action blocked FA-induced apoptosis, we cultured normal and fa/fa islets in 1 mM FA with or without leptin. Leptin completely blocked FA-induced Bcl-2 suppression in normal islets but had no effect on islets from fa/fa rats, which are unresponsive to leptin because of a mutation in their leptin receptors (OB-R). However, when wild-type OB-R is overexpressed in fa/fa islets, leptin completely prevented FA-induced Bcl-2 suppression and DNA fragmentation

Expression of peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor alpha (PPAR alpha) and enzymes of fatty acid (FA) oxidation is markedly reduced in the fat-laden, dysfunctional islets of obese, prediabetic Zucker diabetic fatty (fa/fa) rats with mutated leptin receptors (OB-R). Leptin, PPAR alpha/retinoid x receptor ligands, and FA all up-regulate PPAR alpha and enzymes of FA oxidation and stimulate [3H]-palmitate oxidation in normal islets but not in islets from fa/fa rats. Overexpression of normal OB-R in islets of fa/fa rats corrects all of the foregoing abnormalities and reverses the diabetic phenotype. PPAR alpha is a OB-R-dependent factor required for normal fat homeostasis in islet cells