Occurrence of squalene and cholesterol in various species of Czech freshwater fish

Abstract

The triterpenoid hydrocarbon squalene, C30H50, abundantly occurring in nature, is known as a substance with a high anti-tumour activity proven by a number of research studies. A high content of squalene was found mainly in shark liver oil and also in olive oil and amaranth seed oil. Our work was aimed at examining squalene contents in fresh water fish. Altogether 20 fish species were analysed. Squalene was determined in the unsaponifiable matter of mus-cular and visceral fat by a capillary gas chromatography method using a flame ionisation detector; the analysis of the unsaponifiable matter was augmented by cholesterol assay. The quantity of squalene found in muscular and visceral fat of individual fish averaged hundreds of mg/kg, ranging from 98.0 to 1536.8 mg/kg in muscular fat and from 70.1 to 1803.8 mg/kg in visceral fat. Muscular cholesterol amounted from 0.011% to 0.170% and visceral cholesterol from 0.104% to 0.297%.