Isolation and Assay of Surface-active Phospholipid Components from Lung Extracts by Thin-layer Chromatography.

The isolation and quantitation of the surface-active phospholipids of the lipids extracted from mammalian saline lung extracts were studied by the direct application of thin-layer chromatography. The significant recovery of 85% of the phospholipids suggests that the method described can be used for the quantitative analysis of the surface-active material of lung extract and for further complementary analysis such as gas-liquid chromatography. The choline -containing phospholipids such as lecithin and sphingomyelin isolated from lung extracts of different species gave characteristic surface acitivity on a modified Wilhelmy balance. The phosphatidylethanolamine and its analogues did not exhibit surface activity.