The incorporation of 32Pi into phospholipids was studied in Friend erythroleukemia cells either induced or not to erythroid differentiation with 4 mM hexamethylenebisacetamide (HMBA). The effect of the differentiating agent on the recovery of radiolabelled phospholipids was compared in whole cells, isolated nuclei and nuclear matrix after in vivo labelling for 1 hr. The procedure employed for the isolation of nuclei was demonstrated to allow only negligible lipid redistribution caused by cell manipulations. Among the lipids extractable from nuclei, acidic phospholipids, and particularly polyphosphoinositides, were more represented than in whole cells, while small differences were found in the other phospholipid classes examined. The comparison between the uninduced and induced condition showed that the relative amounts of nuclear inositol lipids were modified by HMBA treatment of the cells, with a decreased recovery of phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate. These results indicate that phosphatidylinositol and its phosphorylation products synthesized in vivo show a different metabolism in nuclei and whole cells. They appear to be tightly bound nuclear components, also present in membrane-deprived nuclei and nuclear matrix, and are probably related to the nuclear events involved in erythroid differentiation.