Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is generally more oxidizable than phosphatidylcholine (PC). To determine the difference in reactivities to oxidation between PE and PC, it is necessary for their fatty acid moieties to be uniform. Experimental results of the ferrous ion-catalyzed oxidation of dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine, dilinoleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, and dilinoleoyldiglyceride revealed that the rate of oxidation depends on the type of base. Ferrous ion possessed a high catalytic activity in hydroperoxide formation at pH 5.8. Iron ions might initiate the oxidation of phospholipids by forming free radicals. Phosphoethanolamine was capable of trapping ferrous ion and preventing it from being autoxidized to ferric ion. Trapping of ferrous ion might be responsible for the significant oxidizability of PE at pH 5.8-7.0. In the ferrous ion-ascorbic acid (AsA) catalyzed oxidation system, PC oxidation was remarkably enhanced at pH 7.0. In this case, no reduction of ferric ion occurred, but AsA had a prooxidant effect of accelerating the formation of free radicals.

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