Enriched on-grown Artemia metanauplii actively metabolise highly unsaturated fatty acid-rich phospholipids

On-grown (metanaupliar) stages of Artemia have been regarded as more adequate preys for early life-cycle stages of cephalopods, crustaceans, and a variety of fish species. In recent studies, we obtained successful enhancements of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) and polar lipids (PL) in enriched Artemia metanauplii using either a combination of a commercial, neutral lipid (NL)-based HUFA-rich emulsion and Soya lecithin, or HUFA-rich phospholipids. The present study aimed at exploring the molecular form under which dietary HUFA are actually deposited in the metanaupliar lipids. Thus, we analysed the fatty acid (FA) composition of the PL and NL fractions from enriched metanauplii, with special emphasis on the fate of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) within Artemia lipids. The results show that on-grown Artemia actively translocated ingested FA contained from PL to NL classes including triacylglycerides.