THE PRODUCTION OF FISH OILS ENRICHED IN POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACID-CONTAINING TRIGLYCERIDES

A simple concentration technique was developed and used for the production of fish oils highly enriched with respect to the polyunsaturated triglycerides. The method involves the rapid solidification of fish oil droplets in liquid nitrogen followed by extraction with acetone at -60-degrees-C. The combined percentage of cis-5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5) and cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (22:6) after enrichment of a crude South African Anchovy (Engraulis capensis) oil was 57.4. A maximum percentage of 66.0 was attained for n-3 fatty acids after enrichment of a crude Chilean fish oil. A maximum yield of 26.0% was achieved for a crude sardine (Sardina pilchardus) oil. Triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids or a combination of saturated and monoenoic acids were totally removed by the process, as assessed by silver-ion high-performance liquid chromatography of the triglyceride oils. This process permits the production of significant quantities of highly unsaturated triglycerides, which may be used in physiological and oxidative studies or for structural analysis of these triglycerides, many of which are present at extremely low concentrations in the original oils.