Molecular composition of lecithins in the primary hepatoma induced by 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene.

The lecithins of the primary hepatoma induced by 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (DAB) and host liver of rat were isolated, and the individual molecular species were estimated quantitatively by combined thin-layer and gaschromatographic analysis and specific enzymic hydrolysis. The DAB-hepatoma lecithins appeared to have more specific positioning of fatty acids than the transplanted hepatoma lecithins which have been reported by Dyatlovitskaya et al. (1974). However, there were some striking differences to be noted between the DAB-hepatoma and host liver lecithins. The usual type of molecular species of lecithin, saturated-unsaturated species, was the main component in the hepatoma and host liver. The amounts of the unusual species having impaired positional specificity in fatty acid such as the saturated-saturated and the unsaturated-saturated species were high in the DAB-hepatoma when compared with host liver, although the content of the unsaturated-unsaturated species of lecithin were almost similar in both the tissues. The formation of the unusual species of lecithin in tumor tissues was discussed in relation to the impairing in the enzyme systems involved in lecithin synthesis.