Figure 5

Human and great ape RBC plasmalogen composition. On the left most panels, we provide modified box plots representing the percentage of the DMA derivatives of (A) C16:0, (B) C18:0, and (C) C18:1 chemical moieties present in the sn-1 position of plasmalogens relative to total fatty acids (Y-axis) in RBCs. On the rightmost panels, we provide modified box plots representing the ratio of the abundance of (D) C16:0, (E) C18:0, and (F) C18:1 chemical moieties present in the sn-1 position of plasmalogens with respect to their cognate fatty acids (Y-axis) in RBCs. These are reported as DMA/FAME ratios since the vinyl either-linked groups and cognate fatty acids are converted to dimethyl acetyl (DMA) and fatty acid methylester (FAME) derivatives, respectively, after RBC sample processing. In Panel F, C18:1 FAME levels represent the sum of C18:1 (n-5), C18:1 (n-7), and C18:1 (n-9) FAMEs. C18:1 (n-5) FAME levels could not be measured in one orangutan, consistent with its trace abundance in the other two orangutans. The numbers and identities of RBC donors (X-axis) is the same as in Figure 2. Animal cohort data are color-coded as indicated in Figure 4. The star in Panels B, C, and F indicate that the DMA level or DMA/FAME ratio in the human vegan and Western diet cohort differ (P < 0.05).