Lipid profile and fatty acid composition of the male and female <i>Mytilus edulis</i> from China

The mussel has been used as Chinese traditional medicine for thousands of years. Over the past decades, bioactive function of mussel extracts, such as decreasing lipid, improving learning and memory, preventing obesity, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive and so on, have been investigated by many researchers. Nevertheless, there is no comparative information on the lipid ingredients, which is responsible for the beneficial health outcomes, in the male and female <i>Mytilus edulis</i>. This study was designed to clarify the lipid profile and fatty acid composition of total lipids from the male and female <i>M. edulis</i> using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and gas chromatography (GC)<i>.</i> Moreover, the fatty acid composition of free fatty acid (FFA), triacylglycerols (TG), and phospholipids (PL) were further explored. It was determined that the <i>M. edulis</i> was rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), showing a more percentage in the male (41.30%) than the female (36.39%). Further exploration found that the TG and PL constituted the major part of the total lipids. Meanwhile, the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS) were the major molecular types in <i>M. edulis</i> PL, while the phosphatidylcholine (PC) was minor. Besides, the lipids nutritional quality indexes of atherogenicity (AI) and index of thrombogenicity (TI) indicated a good lipid profile for human consumption. In particular, the results of this study will be of value in determining the dietary usefulness and providing more theoretical support for the development of functional food of the <i>M. edulis</i> from China.