High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatographic Analysis of the Polar Lipid Content of Human Urine and Urine from BALB/c Mice Experimentally Infected with Echinostoma caproni

High-performance thin-layer chromatography was used to examine the phospholipid profiles in the urine of Echinostoma caproni infected mice, uninfected mice, and humans. Phospholipids were extracted from urine with chloroform-methanol, 2:1, and determined on silica gel plates with 19 lanes and a concentration zone that were developed with chloroform-methanol-water, 65:25:4. Separated zones were detected by charring with aqueous cupric sulfate reagent and quantified by visible mode slit-scanning densitometry at 370 nm. Ninhydrin spray reagent was used to confirm the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine and spiking analyses were used to confirm the identity of phosphatidylcholine in human urine. Lysophosphatidylcholine was found in human but not mouse urine. Comparison of chromatograms from the urine of infected and uninfected mice showed no qualitative or quantitative differences in the phospholipid profiles, suggesting that urinary phospholipids may not serve as biological markers for trematode infection in mice. Marked differences between the overall polar lipid profiles of mouse and human urine suggest that mice may not be useful models for humans in analyses of the effects of metabolic and infections diseases on polar lipids.