Article Published In Vol.6 (March-April-2018)

Gas Chromatography And Mass Spectrometry in Lipid Profiling of Allergy causing Food Materials

Author : Elakpo Bridget Pabor and Ekpe EL

Background: Food allergy is a major problem in westernized societies and the prevalence has been shown to have increased over the years. Peptide molecules have been known to be implicated in food allergy, however, peptides are not the only molecules recognized by T cells in relation to food allergy. Lipids have been shown to stimulate an allergic response via certain pathways and this study aims to assess food allergy from phospholipids obtained from cypress grains.
Method: Investigation was focused on profiling lipids and comparing them based on their fatty acid and phospholipid composition by combinatorial analysis of peptides and proteins using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) and Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis and also to create a phylogenetic relationship between samples and see if their overlap account for any known report of allergy.
Results: Here, we report that regardless of the classification system of samples (i.e. seed, nuts, and legumes), in terms of fatty acid and phospholipid compositions, some samples with similar origin differ from one another and unrelated families were closely related in the cluster that cause food allergy. Phospholipids were observed to be predominant in the nut species compared to fatty acids and this may have roles in stimulating an allergic response.
Conclusion: Food allergy may certainly be linked to lipid molecules.

Keywords: Allergy, lipid, peptides, mass spectrometry, fatty acid, chromatography