Ether-phospholipid composition in neutrophils and platelets.

It is well documented that ether-lipids, especially the 1-0-alkyl-2-0-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, can serve as precursors in paf-acether (platelet-activating factor) biosynthesis. This study was undertaken to determine the amount of these compounds in two cell types which are good producers of paf-acether: human neutrophils and rabbit platelets. The method of phospholipid analysis was based on selective destruction of diacyl molecules by lipase from guinea pig pancreas and of plasmalogens by acidolysis; phospholipids were then separated by bidimensional thin-layer chromatography. In platelets as in neutrophils, the major phospholipids were choline (37%) and ethanolamine (30 and 32%, respectively) phosphoglycerides and sphingomyelin (18 and 16%, respectively). In rabbit platelets the 1-alkyl molecules represented 15% of the choline class (0.7 nmol/10(7) cells). Neutrophils differed strikingly from platelets by the high level of these molecules which constituted 50% of the choline class (16.3 nmol/10(7) cells). It therefore appears that in the two cell types, the amount of 1-0-alkyl-2-0-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine largely exceeded that would be necessary for paf-acether biosynthesis.