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Lipid metabolism of brain tissue in culture

  • Published:
Lipids

Abstract

Tissue explants from frontal lobes of rat brain were used for the study of cerebral fatty acid metabolism. After tissues had been maintained in serum-supplemented medium, a lipid free medium was substituted and metabolic studies were carried out. Under these conditions explants continued to take up lipid precursors for at least 48 hr. Stearic acid 1-C14, palmitic acid 1-C14 and lignoceric acid 1-C14 were bound to cells as the free fatty acids or incorporafed into neutral lipids (particularly triglycerides), glycolipids and phospholipids. In the galactolipid fraction, cerebrosides were the principal radioactive lipids. Choline phosphoglycerides, ethanolamine phosphoglycerides, inositol phosphoglycerides and serine phosphoglycerides were the principal radioactive phospholipids. Fatty acids were incorporated into cellular lipids either unchanged or after desaturation, chain elongation, or both. In a patient with a demyelinating disease, precursor uptake was reduced and chain elongation and desaturation of the fatty acid was diminished. In a patient with generalized GM2 gangliosidosis, glycolipids other than cerebrosides were labeled to a greater extent than normal. These studies exemplify the usefulness of tissue explants for prolonged metabolic studies in normal and pathological specimens of brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of California at Los Angeles and Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Brentwood, California

    John H. Menkes

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  1. John H. Menkes
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Menkes, J.H. Lipid metabolism of brain tissue in culture. Lipids 7, 135–141 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02532601

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02532601

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