Analyses of glycolipids from fish, shellfish, and sea snake lipids by high-performance liquid chromatography.

To determine the existence of glycolipids (neutral glycosphingolipid and glycoglycerolipid) in sea snake, round frigate mackerel, sardine, sea urchin, and abalone, we performed silica gel chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an Aquasil-SS column and a C(8)-reversed phase silica gel column. HPLC with a UV absorption detector was used to analyze neutral glycosphingolipid. These chromatograms showed typical peaks in round frigate mackerel lipid, in sea snake crude fat, in abalone intestine lipid, and in sea urchin intestine lipid. UV-HPLC was also used to analyze glycoglycerolipid. These chromatograms indicated a large peak in round frigate mackerel lipid and a small peak in purified sardine oil. In addition, we observed the same peaks in the glycolipid fraction of round frigate mackerel muscle lipids and sea snake crude fat using a differential refractometer detector. The results of this study suggest that the peaks are neutral glycosphingolipid or glycoglycerolipid and that neutral glycosphingolipid and glycoglycerolipid may have specific physiological functions in each living creature.