We compared the properties of six human meningiomas with normal rat meningeal cells using cell culture techniques, high resolution in vitro 1H-NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy, and chromatographic analysis. Cell cultures were immunocytochemically characterized at all stages with specific antibodies. Quantitative and qualitative metabolite assessments in cell extracts were obtained from 1H-NMR spectra and chromatographic analysis. Human meningioma cells expressed a characteristic spectrum of metabolites including free amino acids, compounds related to membrane phospholipid metabolism, energy metabolites, and other intermediary products. These spectral characteristics, although different in some respects, were strikingly similar to the ones of rat meningeal cells. Particularly, several metabolites that allow discrimination between meningeal cells and other cell types of the central nervous system were preserved in meningiomas. These similarities suggest that the regulation of intracellular levels of such metabolites is so intrinsic to the identity of cell type as to be conserved across species and through transformation. Additionally, human meningioma cultures expressed some spectroscopic characteristics that enabled them to be clearly distinguished from primary rat meningeal cultures. Thus, human meningiomas may be both specifically recognizable by 1H-NMR spectroscopy and also distinguishable from normal rat meningeal tissue. Our results raise the eventual possibility of using NMR in the noninvasive diagnosis of brain tumors in vivo.