A survey of polar and nonpolar lipids extracted from snake skin

The cast skins of 24 species of snake (four families) were extracted with chloroform:methanol and the lipids recovered (4.2-14.0% of dry weight of shed epidermis) were analyzed by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Skins from all species had large amounts of cholesterol and free fatty acids and most had one or more lipids with TLC mobility similar to triglycerides. Many had a lipid with mobility similar to cholesterol esters. Polar lipids showed much less variation in composition. All species showed large amounts of phospholipids (sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine). All skins contained glycolipids with mobilities similar to monohexosylceramides as well as a number of lipids with mobilities similar to those of ceramides but giving glycolipid-like color reactions when heated with sulfuric acid.