Qualitative and quantitative analysis of lipid extracts from rabbit meat by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Analyses of lipid extracts from rabbit meat were carried out by gas chromat ography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using both electron and chemical ionisati on, Ten rabbit carcasses were randomly acquired on the market, from differe nt farms; for each of them muscular tissues from hindleg and breast were an alysed, The lipid fractions were extracted, separated and hydrolysed, The f atty acid fractions were derivatised by 2,2-dimethoxypropane. The GC/MS dat a obtained using electron ionisation (EI) did not allow the complete charac terisation of the fatty acid fraction, and for this reason chemical ionisat ion (CI) was employed using acetonitrile as reactant gas. The data thus obt ained show that, for both samples of rabbit tissue, the mean abundance rati o of plasma cholesterol lowering fatty acids and plasma cholesterol elevati ng fatty acids (PCL/PCE), taken as a parameter describing a desirable lipid uptake, is 2.2 +/- 0.3, significantly higher than the values reported for other meats (0.8-1.8). These data, together with the high concentration of (n-6) fatty acids, provide a good indication of the high nutritional value of rabbit meat. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.