Phosphatidylinositol and not phosphatidylglycerol is the important minor phospholipid in rhesus-monkey surfactant.

Pulmonary surfactant was isolated from lung tissue and alveolar washes of lungs of adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). The phospholipid composition was determined and compared to the composition of human surfactant fractions. Contrary to human surfactant, phosphatidylinositol is the major acidic phospholipid, whereas phosphatidylglycerol is only a minor component in rhesus-monkey surfactant. These differences are not caused by a difference in plasma myo-inositol concentrations between the two species.