FRACTIONATION OF LIPIDS AND PROTEOLIPIDS FROM CAT GREY AND WHITE MATTER BY CHROMATOGRAPHY ON AN ORGANOPHILIC DEXTRAN GEL

A method for the fractionation of proteolipids extracted from the grey and white matter, involving two successive columns of Sephadex LH-20, is described. In the first column the total lipid extract (TLE) was eluted with chloroform-methanol (19:1), and in the second, pure chloroform was followed by solvent mixtures of increasing polarity. Ether precipitated TLEs were eluted through the second column. Two fractions of proteolipids were obtained, one being eluted by a gel filtration mechanism and the other by partition chromatography. Different patterns of elution for grey and white matter extracts were found. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the chemical and physicochemical characteristics of the different proteolipids and to the receptor properties shown by some of them in grey matter. © 1969.