Lipidomic profile changes of yellow-feathered chicken meat during thermal processing based on UPLC-ESI-MS approach

In this work, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS) was applied to compare the lipidomics profile of chicken breast meat heated to various temperatures. A total of 445 lipids including phospholipids, diacylglycerols, triacylglycerols, glycoglycerolipids, and sphingolipids were detected in chicken muscle. Significant decreases in a list of characteristic unsaturated phospholipid species including phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol were identified after heating, suggesting the occurrence of lipid oxidation, while significant increases in characteristic lysophospholipid species were found with increasing heating temperature, which were mainly derived from hydrolysis of phospholipids. Moreover, ether phospholipid and neutral lipid species exhibited remarkable changes during the heating process, and monoalk(en)yl diacylglycerol was first identified in chicken meat. The findings could contribute to the improved understanding of key lipids and biochemical reactions engaged in the heating of meat products.