Rapid qualitative analysis of polar and nonpolar lipids in a single sample using "three-way" thin layer chromatography.

Plastic sheets, precoated with silica gel, are cut to give a square with a strip attached at the top right-hand corner. Lipid extract is applied to the square portion, just below the strip, and chromatographed in a solvent which moves nonpolar lipids on to the strip, leaving polar lipids at the origin. The strip is cut off and separation of the lipids on the strip and the remaining square portion of the plate is completed by conventional one- or two-dimensional chromatography, respectively. The application of this method and a multiple staining technique to the analysis of lipids in human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid is described.