Species variations in phospholipid class distribution of organs: I. Kidney, liver and spleen

Abstract Improved procedures for preparation of lipid extracts and determination of phospholipids by phosphorus analysis of spots separated by thin layer chromatography (TLC) were employed to determine the phospholipid class distributions of vertebrate (human, bovine, rat, mouse, frog) kidney, liver and spleen. The absence of significant changes arising from postmortem enzymatic degradation was demonstrated by analysis of lipids of organs after standing for different times postmortem. Intraspecies variability was evaluated by separate analysis of several rat organs. Accuracy of analytical results was insured by demonstrating the absence of spot overlap by two‐dimensional TLC and low values for standard deviations. The values for kidney and liver demonstrate little or no species variability, whereas values for spleen indicate two groups which differ in cellular composition. The findings for kidney and liver are in keeping with data obtained from heart, skeletal muscle, lung and highly purified subcellular particulates which indicate that, among vertebrates, there is little or no species variability of phospholipid class distribution of organs and most subcellular particulates.