Antioxidant activity of water extracts from fish eggs on PC liposomes

The antioxidant activities of aqueous extracts from four kinds of fish eggs were examined by determining the oxidative stability of polyunsaturated fa tty acids (PUFAs) in salmon egg and soybean phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposo mes. The extracts from salmon eggs, trout eggs, shark eggs, and herring egg s showed antioxidant activities on the oxidation of both PC liposomes. When trout egg extracts were further separated into low molecular components (M W < 5000) and high molecular components (MW > 5000), the activity of the fo rmer fraction was higher than that of the latter fraction, which was mainly composed of proteins. These results demonstrate that the aqueous antioxida nts may be important for protecting fish eggs against oxidative stress.