{"doi":"10.3390/md24010004","title":"Omega-3 Source Matters: Comparative Lipid Signatures and Quantitative Distribution of EPA/DHA Across Marine Resources","abstract":"<jats:p>Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) with well-established health benefits. They occur primarily in marine resources, while their quantitative distribution within the glycerolipidome is rarely analyzed. Therefore, we investigated major commercial sources, including 12 microalgal species, the protist Schizochytrium sp., four fish species, and nine commercial n-3 supplements (fish, krill and Schizochytrium-derived “algal” oils) by high-performance thin-layer chromatography–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPTLC–GC–MS). The class-resolved mapping of EPA and DHA revealed signature lipid profiles across all sources. In microalgae, 60–80% of EPA was localized in glycolipids, whereas in Schizochytrium and fish, &gt;90% of DHA occurred in triacylglycerols. Krill oils exhibited phospholipid-rich profiles with ~70% of phosphatidylcholine-bound DHA. Nutritional indices also highlighted major differences: fish and fish oils showed favorable PUFA-to-saturated FA ratios (&gt;0.45) and hypocholesterolemic-to-hypercholesterolemic ratios (&gt;1), while Schizochytrium-based “algal” oils even surpassed these values. The microalgae Nannochloropsis granulata contained the highest EPA content in biomass form, combined with favorable nutritional indices. Beyond total n-3 content in relation to recommended daily intake values, the lipid-class distribution and nutritional indices should be considered decisive metrics for evaluating the health relevance of n-3 resources in the human diet.</jats:p>","journal":"Marine Drugs","year":2025,"id":637777,"datarank":0.3453877639491069,"base_score":2.302585092994046,"endowment":2.302585092994046,"self_citation_contribution":0.3453877639491069,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.3453877639491069,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":9,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1656172,"name":"Carola Griehl","orcid":"0000-0003-3496-0299","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":458210,"name":"Stephan Schilling","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1656174,"name":"Claudia Grewe","orcid":"0000-0003-2700-1612","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1656168,"name":"Kolos Makay","orcid":"0000-0003-1899-5141","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Omega-3 Source Matters: Comparative Lipid Signatures and Quantitative Distribution of EPA/DHA Across Marine Resources","abstract":"<jats:p>Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) with well-established health benefits. They occur primarily in marine resources, while their quantitative distribution within the glycerolipidome is rarely analyzed. Therefore, we investigated major commercial sources, including 12 microalgal species, the protist Schizochytrium sp., four fish species, and nine commercial n-3 supplements (fish, krill and Schizochytrium-derived “algal” oils) by high-performance thin-layer chromatography–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPTLC–GC–MS). The class-resolved mapping of EPA and DHA revealed signature lipid profiles across all sources. In microalgae, 60–80% of EPA was localized in glycolipids, whereas in Schizochytrium and fish, &gt;90% of DHA occurred in triacylglycerols. Krill oils exhibited phospholipid-rich profiles with ~70% of phosphatidylcholine-bound DHA. Nutritional indices also highlighted major differences: fish and fish oils showed favorable PUFA-to-saturated FA ratios (&gt;0.45) and hypocholesterolemic-to-hypercholesterolemic ratios (&gt;1), while Schizochytrium-based “algal” oils even surpassed these values. The microalgae Nannochloropsis granulata contained the highest EPA content in biomass form, combined with favorable nutritional indices. Beyond total n-3 content in relation to recommended daily intake values, the lipid-class distribution and nutritional indices should be considered decisive metrics for evaluating the health relevance of n-3 resources in the human diet.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":1.9459101490553132,"endowment":1.9459101490553132,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"41590701","pmcid":"PMC12843360","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W7116971658","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Anhalt University of Applied Sciences","grant_id":"","title":null}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":3.6442,"citation_percentile":0.93415614,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2026,"count":6}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/24/1/4/pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/24/1/4/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3390/md24010004","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41590701","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/cc9c9a026de243159fcbec26d2f9c913","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/507748","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12843360/","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12843360","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12843360?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Fatty Acid Research and Health","Algal biology and biofuel production","Seaweed-derived Bioactive Compounds","Eicosapentaenoic Acid","Animals","Docosahexaenoic Acids","Microalgae","Fishes","Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry","Aquatic Organisms","Fish Oils","Stramenopiles","Dietary Supplements","Euphausiacea","Lipids","Chromatography, Thin Layer","Fatty Acids, Omega-3"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","Chromatography, Thin Layer","Docosahexaenoic Acids","Fish Oils","Fishes","Lipids","Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry","Eicosapentaenoic Acid","Fatty Acids, Omega-3","Dietary Supplements","Euphausiacea","Stramenopiles","Microalgae","Aquatic Organisms"],"keywords":["Docosahexaenoic acid","Eicosapentaenoic acid","Krill","Biomass (ecology)","Polyunsaturated fatty acid","Fish oil","Fatty acid","FISH","DHA","Microalgae","EPA","Schizochytrium","Marine Lipids","Hptlc-gc-ms"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Life below water"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"nct"},{"name":"doi"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-06T19:29:44.505656Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}