The neurologic (type A) and nonneurologic (type B) forms of Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) both result from deficiencies of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) activity leading to the accumulation of sphingomyelin and other related lipids within lysosomes. Recently, the full-length cDNA and genomic sequences encoding ASM have been isolated and the nature of the molecular lesions causing NPD has been investigated. Although these developments have facilitated diagnosis for this debilitating disease, no effective treatment is currently available. Toward this latter goal, our laboratories recently reported the effectiveness of retroviral-mediated gene transfer for the in vitro correction of the cellular pathology in NPD fibroblasts (Suchi et al., 1992). In addition, novel selection procedures were developed to separate retrovirally corrected and noncorrected NPD fibroblasts based on the receptor-mediated delivery of a fluorescently (pyrene)-labeled sphingomyelin (P12-SPM) to the lysosomes of cells using liposomes coated with apolipoprotein E. In this study, we have used a different, fluorescent derivative of sphingomyelin (lissamine-rhodamine dodecanoyl sphingomyelin; LR12-SPM) to extend and improve this selection system. LR12-SPM offers a number of advantages over P12-SPM, including the facts that apolipoprotein E is not required for its efficient uptake and targeting to lysosomes and that the product of LR12-SPM degradation by ASM is efficiently transported out of cells. Thus, when analyzed in a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS), there was complete separation (i.e., no overlap) of retrovirally corrected and noncorrected NPD cells after the administration of LR12-SPM.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)