Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 981-8555, Japan
A Stromateidei fish, Stromateus stellatus, caught in the South Atlantic Ocean has been presumed to be responsible for food poisoning, with diarrhea as the major symptom. The muscle lipids were analyzed to be mainly composed of the equivalent mixture of diacyl glyceryl ethers and triacylglycerols. The major alkyl and acyl components in diacyl glyceryl ether were 16:0 and 18:1 respectively. Pure diacyl glyceryl ether prepared from Stromateus stellatus muscle was highly resistant to hydrolysis by porcine pancreatic lipase, however, co-existence of triacylglycerol as the substrate accelerated hydrolysis. Oral acute toxicities of diacyl glyceryl ether and its hydrolyzates were compared with wax ester and triacylglycerol on mice starved for 24h. The toxicity was found to be in decreasing order as follows: glyceryl ether>monoacyl glyceryl ether>diacyl glyceryl ether>wax ester. The simultaneous ingestion of triacylglycerol with diacyl glyceryl ether enhanced the toxicity of diacyl glyceryl ether. These results suggested that the use of fishes containing diacyl glyceryl ether for food shoud be careflly considered.