Lipids rich in phosphatidylethanolamine from natural gas-utilizing bacteria reduce plasma cholesterol and classes of phospholipids: a comparison with soybean oil.

We compared the effects of three different high-lipid diets on plasma lipoproteins and phospholipids in mink (Mustela vison). The 18 mink studied were fed one of the three diets during a 25-d period in a parallel group design. The compared diets had 0, 17, and 67% extracted lipids from natural gas-utilizing bacteria (LNGB), which were rich in PE. The group with 0% LNGB was fed a diet for which the lipid content was 100% soybean oil. The total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol of animals consuming a diet with 67% LNGB (67LNGB-diet), were significantly lowered by 35, 49, and 29%, respectively, and unesterified cholesterol increased by 17% compared with the animals fed a diet of 100% lipids from soybean oil (SB-diet). In addition, the ratio of LDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol was 27% lower in mink fed the 67LNGB-diet than those fed the SB-diet. When the mink were fed the 67LNGB-diet, plasma PC, total phospholipids, lysoPC, and PI were lowered significantly compared with the mink fed a SB-diet. Plasma total cholesterol was correlated with total phospholipids as well as with PC (R = 0.8, P< 0.001). A significantly higher fecal excretion of unesterified cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, PC, lysoPC, and PE was observed in the 67LNGB-fed mink compared with the SB-fed mink. We conclude that phospholipids from the 67LNGB-diet decreased plasma lipoprotein levels, the LDL/HDL cholesterol ratio, and plasma phospholipid levels, especially lysoPC and PC, compared with the highly unsaturated soybean oil. Our findings indicate that the decrease of plasma cholesterol is mainly caused by a specific mixture of phospholipids containing a high level of PE, and not by the dietary FA composition. The lack of significant differences in the level of plasma PE due to the diets indicates that most of the PE from LNGB has been converted to PC in the liver. Thus, plasma cholesterol may at least be partly regulated by phospholipid methylation from PE to PC in the liver.