Phosphatidylcholine enriched with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was successfully produced by phospholipase A1-catalysed acidolysis. Reverse micelles were firstly selected as the reaction system to avoid the process of immobilization and to ensure the efficient catalysis of phospholipase A1. Parameters were optimized for a high incorporation of phosphatidylcholine enriched with DHA (DHA-PC). A response-surface design with four factors, including the water content, enzyme loading, pH and substrate-mass ratio were used to evaluate the influence of the major factors and to predict the optimal reaction conditions. The results indicated that the optimal reaction conditions for the production of DHA-PC were a water content of 0.4%, an enzyme loading of 40%, pH 6.92 and a substrate-mass ratio of 2.13. Under these optimized conditions, 20.90% of DHA content in DHA-PC was obtained.
Keywords: Catalysed acidolysis; Docosahexaenoic acid; Phosphatidylcholine; Phospholipase A1; Reverse micelles.