HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD WITH LIGHTSCATTERING DETECTION FOR MEASUREMENTS OF LIPID CLASS COMPOSITION - ANALYSIS OF BRAINS FROM ALCOHOLICS

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with evaporative ligh t-scattering detection was developed for the analysis of intact lipid classes in nervous tissue. The method had the ability to resolve plasm alogen-phosphatidyl-ethanolamine and diacyl-phosphatidylethanolamine a long with other major phospholipid classes in a single run. This techn ique was employed for the investigation of the effects of chronic alco hol consumption on the membrane lipid class composition of human brain s (alcoholics, n=13; controls, n=11). Measurements were performed on c holesterol, cerebrosides, sulfatides, phospholipids and sphingolipids in total lipid extracts of white matter, gray matter and cerebellar re gions of human brains. No significant differences in the lipid class c omposition between the groups were observed.