title: Lipid and fatty acyl composition of rat brain capillary endothelia isolated by a new technique.
abstract: A method is described for the isolation of pure capillary endothelia from rat brain and the phosphlipid composition of these cells is reported. This method is rapid and requires only a small amount of starting material. It involves: (a) tissue disruption by high speed homogenization, (b) separation of the capillary endothelia from other brain structures using sucrose gradients, and (c) a final purification using a glass bead column. Choline and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides were found to be the predominant lipid classes of these cells amounting to 31.9% and 24.4%, respectively, of total phospholipids. The choline phosphoglycerides consisted almost exclusively of 1,2-diacyl glycerophosphorylcholine, whereas the ethanolamine phosphoglycerides consisted of approximately equal amounts of 1,2-diacyl and 1-alk-1'-enyl-2-acyl glycerophosphorylethanolamine. The composition of the constituent fatty acids of both choline and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides and the alk-1-enyl composition of ethanolamine phosphoglycerides is reported. Saturated fatty acids accounted for 45% of the total fatty acids in choline phosphoglycerides and for 53% in ethanolamine phosphoglycerides. Arachidonic acid accounted for approximately 48% of the total fatty acids in alk-1-enyl ethanolamine phosphoglyceride.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002196:Capillaries / Q000032:analysis* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004727:Endothelium / Q000032:analysis; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D008055:Lipids; D010743:Phospholipids