Absorptive Characteristics of Plasmalogen and Availability of Serum/Plasma Plasmalogen as the Biomarker

Abstract

Plasmagen is a subclass of phospholipids widely distributed in animal tissues and ingested as food. However, the absorptive characteristics of plasmalogen have not been clarified. Also, vinyl-ether linkage in the sn-1 position of plasmalogen is very sensitive to oxygen radicals and has antioxidative properties in the lipid bilayer or lipoproteins; this lipid is a component of lipoproteins and reported to suppress cholesterol oxidation, which suggests that plasmalogen is an essential lipoprotein lipid to prevent atherosclerosis. Over many years, we have been researching this strange phospholipid. In this article, we would like to introduce the absorptive characteristics of plasmalogen and the availability of serum/plasma plasmalogen as the biomarker for atherosclerosis.