Specific positional distribution of acyl moieties in phospholipids is not generally deleted in neoplastic cells.

The distribution of acyl moieties at sn-1 and sn-2 positions of cholinphosphoglycerides (CPG) and ethanolaminephosphoglycerides (EPG) has been determined for neurosarcoma, sarcoma 180 and leukemia L 1210. In all the three samples, the positional distribution of acyl moieties in the two major classes of phospholipids is found to be similar to that in cellular phospholipids of most mammalian tissues. The saturated acyl moieties are located predominantly at sn-1 and polyunsaturated acyl moieties at sn-2, whereas the monounsaturated acyl moieties are randomly distributed between these two positions. Apparently, a disruption of specific positioning of acyl moieties in phospholipids, which hitherto has been considered to be a general metabolic deletion in neoplasia, does not exist in an all neoplastic cells.