ISSN:
1471-4159
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract— The incorporation in vivo of l-[14C]serine into ceramide and cerebroside of young rat brain has been studied. Acid hydrolysis of labelled ceramide and galactosyl-ceramide followed by selective partitioning of the resulting components indicated that 88 per cent of the radioactivity was present in the long-chain base portion. At early time points (10 min, 20 min) the precursor was incorporated into ceramide and to a lesser degree into glucosyl-ceramide. During time intervals of 5 and 10 h, the specific activity values (d.p.m./μmol) for ceramide and glucosyl-ceramide decreased, while values for galactosyl-ceramide, containing either unsubstituted fatty acids (NFA) or α-hydroxy fatty acids (HFA), increased 50 and 30 per cent, respectively. Analysis of labelled ceramide at all time points studied (10 min-10 h) indicated that l-[14C]serine was incorporated onto the NFA type. This observation suggests that HFA-ceramide may not be the physiological precursor of HFA-galactosyl-ceramide. In this context, the postulated precursor roles of both ceramide and psychosine in the biosynthesis of brain cerebrosides are discussed.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.1974.tb06063.x
