Glycerophospholipid fatty acid remodeling optimizes lipid nutrition and volatile organic compound composition in freshwater fish with linolenic acid intervention

To investigate α-linolenic acid (ALA) intervention effects on lipid remodeling and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in <i>Cyprinus carpio</i>, fish were fed soybean oil (SO, 5.37 % ALA) and flaxseed oil (SL, 32.66 % ALA) diets for 30 weeks. Key results: ALA interventions significantly increased n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) without altering protein or amino acid content. ALA interventions preferentially incorporated docosahexaenoic acid at the phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) sn-2 position while suppressing saturated fatty acids in PEs sn-1 and monounsaturated fatty acids in phosphatidylcholines (<i>P</i> < 0.05). ALA interventions enhanced pleasant VOCs (pent-1-en-3-ol) but reduced off-flavor VOCs (oct-1-en-3-ol, heptanal), with n-3 PUFAs correlating positively and n-6 PUFAs negatively (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Lipidomics revealed glycerophospholipids as a core target for ALA, with significant metabolic pathways enrichment (<i>P</i> < 0.05). In summary, ALA interventions optimize the nutrition and VOCs of freshwater fish by remodeling glycerophospholipid molecules, supporting the supply of high-quality aquatic foods.