Figure 3: Lipid composition of THP-1 cells and microvesicles.
From: Transitional changes in the CRP structure lead to the exposure of proinflammatory binding sites
(a) THP-1 cells and cell-derived microvesicles (16,000 g pellet) were lipid extracted and subjected to mass spectrometric analysis. Microvesicles contain large amounts of CHO, phosphatidylcholine (PC), SMs, ceramides (Cer) and PS, which are predominantly found in the cell plasma membrane. The other lipids identified were: LPC, LPE, PE and PI. Displayed are means and s.d. P values were calculated with an unpaired t-test (n=12). (b) Smaller microvesicles contain increasing amounts of PE, reflecting their endoplasmic reticulum origins. (c) LPC content increases in small microvesicles and induces a positive membrane curvature due to the flexibility of the single-chain fatty acid (n≥4 for each group). In (a), CHO is expressed in % of total lipids. Other membrane lipids are expressed as per cent of total lipids (excluding CHO). Lipids, which comprises <0.5% of total lipids, were excluded from the analysis. (d) The lipid composition of platelets and platelet-derived microvesicles (16,000 g) was determined as described above (a–c) (n=6). P values were calculated with an unpaired t-test.
