The techniques described allow the quantitation of cholesterol, cerebrosides, sulfatides, ethanolamine phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine, -serine, -inositol, and gangliosides on 500 micrograms of lipid. Lipid extraction required sonication. Separation of the lipid classes was performed on TLC glass plates (10 x 10 cm) coated with silica gel HPTLC 60 F 254 Merck using one multiple two-dimensional chromatography. Most of the methods used for quantitation were standard methods that had been scaled down. The procedure was applied to study regional differences in the central nervous system, to analyze cell membranes or subcellular particles, or to analyze pathological biopsies in the central and peripheral nervous systems.