The long term goal of this project is to design and develop novel glycerolipid derivatives providing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (omega-3 PUFA) in a highly bioavailable form for use as prophylactic and therapeutic agents for cardiovascular and other diseases, and as essential nutrients for normal development, and maintenance of health. During Phase I relationships have been established between glycerolipid structure and composition, and bioavailability. Specifically, glycerolipid structure and composition ensuring 100% bioavailability have been identified, and are suggested as idealized targets for Phase II. In addition, a basis has been established for an enzyme technological approach for production of the target glycerolipids. During Phase II, the main thrust is on study of process options, design, and parameters for transforming a fish oil as raw material into the target structure and composition. For achieving concomitant enrichment in omega 3 PUFA-content, particular emphasis is on key parameters allowing control and enhancement of substrate specificity and reaction selectivity of the enzyme system. An integrated program is proposed, with the following milestones: (i) process design and scale-up to mini-pilot plant, (ii) product preparation and analyses for establishing specifications, (iii) preparation of the product for safety evaluation, and, (iv) biological safety evaluation in acute and subchronic oral toxicity tests in the rat.
