Changes produced in the antioxidative activity of phospholipids as a consequence of their oxidation.

The antioxidative activities of native and oxidized soybean phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylthanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylinositol (PI) in the protection of soybean oil heated in the dark under air at 60 degrees C were studied in an attempt to clarify the consequences that phospholipid oxidation has on antioxidative activities. The three native phospholipids protected the oil when assayed at 200 ppm, and phospholipid oxidation decreased the antioxidative activity of both PC and PI. However, slightly oxidized PE was more antioxidative than native PE, most likely as a consequence of the formation by amino-carbonyl reactions of pyrrolized phospholipids, which were determined and for which antioxidative properties are known. Nevertheless, further increases in PE oxidation produced a decrease in its antioxidative activity. These results suggest that two opposite reactions are competing in the antioxidative activity of amino phospholipids upon oxidation: fatty acid chain oxidation, which decreases phospholipid antioxidative activity, and amino-carbonyl reactions, which produce derivatives with antioxidant properties. This last property may be useful to increase the antioxidative activity of commercial lecithins containing amino phospholipids.