| Abstract
| - Wine is an essential component of the Mediterranean diet, and it is thought to exert a protectiveeffect against coronary heart disease. Although many efforts have been made to determine theprotective compounds in wines, their exact nature and how they are involved in the protectionmechanisms are still unclear. In this study, total lipids, total polar lipids, and total neutral lipidsof five wines and three musts were tested in vitro for their ability to induce washed rabbit plateletaggregation and/or to inhibit platelet activating factor (PAF) induced aggregation. The results showedthat the biological activity of wine/must total lipids can be attributed mainly to total polar lipids.In the red wine Cabernet Sauvignon, we fractionated total neutral lipids, total polar lipids, andpigments by HPLC. Each fraction was tested in vitro for its biological activity. Structural data ofthe most active fractions, based on biological, chemical, and spectral methods, are also presented. Keywords: Wine; must; biologically active lipids; platelet-activating factor; PAF; coronary heartdisease; arteriosclerosis; phenolic compounds
|
