title: Skin lipids from Saudi Arabian birds.
abstract: Skin lipids play an important role in the regulation of cutaneous water loss (CWL). Earlier studies have shown that Saudi desert birds exhibit a tendency of reduced CWL than birds from temperate environment due to adaptive changes in composition of their skin lipids. In this study, we used thin-layer chromatography (TLC) for separation and detection of non-polar and polar lipids from the skin of six bird species including sooty gull, brown booby, house sparrow, Arabian waxbill, sand partridge, and laughing dove. The lipids were separated and detected on Silica gel G coated TLC plates and quantified by using densitometric image analysis. Rf values of the non-polar lipids were as follows: cholesterol (0.29), free fatty acids (0.58), triacylglycerol (0.69), fatty acids methyl esters (0.84) and cholesterol ester (0.97). Rf values for the polar lipids were: cerebroside (0.42), ceramide (0.55) and cholesterol (0.73). The results showed the abundance of fatty acids methyl esters (47.75-60.46%) followed by triacylglycerol (12.69-24.14%). The remaining lipid compositions were as follows: cholesterol (4.09-13.18%), ceramide (2.18-13.27%), and cerebroside (2.53-12.81%). In conclusion, our findings showed that TLC is a simple and sensitive method for the separation and quantification of skin lipids. We also reported a new protocol for lipid extraction using the zirconia beads for efficient disruption of skin tissues. This study will help us better understand the role of skin lipids in adaptive physiology towards adverse climatic conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Haseeb A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ibrahim A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Arif
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Aronoff Laboratory, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Aronoff Laboratory, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
authors.forename: Alex M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Champagne
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shobrak
keywords: Detection; Saudi birds; Separation; Skin lipids; Thin-layer chromatography