Lipid and fatty acyl composition of rat brain capillary endothelia isolated by a new technique

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Abstract
A method is described for the isolation of pure capillary endothelia from rat brain and the phospholipid composition of these cells is reported. This method is rapid and requires only a small amount of starting material. It involves: (a) tissue disruption by high speed homogenization, (b) separation of the capillary endothelia from other brain structures using sucrose gradients, and (c) a final purification using a glass bead column. Choline and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides were found to be the predominant lipid classes of these cells amounting to 31.9% and 24.4%, respectively, of total phospholipids. The choline phosphoglycerides consisted almost exclusively of 1,2‐diacyl glycerophosphorylcholine, whereas the ethanolamine phosphoglycerides consisted of approximately equal amounts of 1,2‐diacyl and 1‐alk‐l'‐enyl‐2‐acyl glycerophosphorylethanolamine. The composition of the constituent fatty acids of both choline and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides and the alk‐1‐enyl composition of ethanolamine phosphoglycerides is reported. Saturated fatty acids accounted for 45% of the total fatty acids in choline phosphoglycerides and for 53% in ethanolamine phosphoglycerides. Arachidonic acid accounted for approximately 48% of the total fatty acids in alk‐1‐enyl ethanolamine phosphoglyceride.