Phospholipid composition of myeloid bodies from chick retinal pigment epithelium

The phospholipid composition of a myeloid body (MB) enriched subcellular fraction of chick retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) was determined in order to further characterize the origin and functional significance of these lamellar membrane organelles. The major MB phospholipids found were phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine which represented 43% and 34% of the total MB lipids respectively. Sphingomyelin and phosphatidylinositol comprised the remaining detectable phospholipids. The fatty acyl chain composition of all detected phospholipids showed that the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids [arachidonic (20:4 n-6), docosapentaenoic (22:5 n-3) and docosahexaenoic (22:6 n-3)] account for greater than 45% of the fatty acids in MB membranes. This high proportion of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in MBs is particularly striking when compared to the long-chain fatty acid composition of the photoreceptor outer segments from this predominantly cone retina which contains less than 25% long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. The results from this study clearly demonstrate that MB lipids represent a significantly enriched pool of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.