Altered phospholipid composition and changed fatty acid pattern of the various phospholipid fractions of red cell membranes of cystic fibrosis children with pancreatic insufficiency.

After two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography, it appears that the phospholipid composition of the erythrocyte membranes of cystic fibrosis children, compared with healthy ones, is changed by an increase of the phosphatidyl inositol content. The plasmalogen concentration of the membrane phospholipids is the same for both groups. The fatty acid pattern of the various red cell membrane phospholipid fractions was determined by gas chromatography (Tables II, III and IV), and significant changes were observed in the cystic fibrosis patients (Table V). Phosphatidyl choline and ethanolamine (non-plasmalogen forms) especially show strikingly abnormal fatty acid patterns similar to those in the various plasma lipid fractions.