Investigation on the pattern of polar lipids extracted from different strains of cultured cells.

The polar lipid patterns of several cell strains (EUE, L929, MT, RAG and TAZA) were compared by TLC separation in order to identify a typical lipid profile as a possible "strain marker". Phospholipids and sulfolipids were tested by colorimetric procedures. EUE and L929 contain smaller amounts of sulfolipids (2.4-3.9; 3.0-4.5) than RAG (4.4-12.0) or MT (10.5) (micrograms x 10(-6)/cell). MT and RAG contain higher phospholipid P concentration than other strains. (MT:14.0 whilst EUE 1.3-1.8 micrograms phospholipidic P x 10(-6)/cell). The patterns of lipidograms in the characterization of two cell strains are discussed in terms of their usefulness as rapid "fingerprint" in biochemical and histochemical analysis.