Phosphatidylinositol developing brain

A chloroform/methanol/water system is appropriate for the separation of an acidic fraction. If the solvent compositions are not optimized, the phospholipids and glycolipids are eluted at the solvent front or in the column contents. When we chose a suitable solvent, acidic phospholipids (phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, lysophosphatidyl-inositol, and lysophosphatidylserine) were satisfactorily separated between the solvent front and the column contents (Fig. 2A). Samples (2 mg each) of the acidic fraction of human brain lipids was applied to TC-CCC by using the chloroform/methanol/water (5 4 3) solvent system. Aliquots of each fraction were spotted and developed by HPTLC. 

Addition of either insulin-like growth factor I or insulin to the serum-free medium prevented rat cerebellar granule cells from developing sensitivity to kainate neurotoxicity whereas brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3, neurotrophin-4, and nerve growth factor did not (Leski et al. 2000). The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors wort-mannin (10-100 nM) and LY 294002 (0.3-1 pM) aboUshed the protection afforded by IGF-I. 

---