Class separation of bile lipids by thin-layer chromatography.

A thin-layer chromatography technique is described that permits separation of each class of bile lipid, such as cholesterol, free (unconjugated) bile acids, glycine- and taurine-conjugated bile acids and phospholipids, in a single run. The use of silica gel G-aluminium pre-coated sheets facilitates further processing, such as the extraction in situ of each class of separated bile lipids for determination by conventional methods.