Observations on the presence of lysolecithin in nervous tissues

Targeting of deep brain structures with microinjections for delivery of drugs, viral vectors, or cell transplants

Microinjections into the brain parenchyma are important procedures to deliver drugs, viral vectors or cell transplants. The brain lesion that an injecting needle produces during its trajectory is a major concern especially in the mouse brain for not only the brain is small but also sometimes multiple injections are needed. We show here a method to produce glass capillary needles with a 50-μm lumen which significantly reduces the brain damage and allows a precise targeting into the rodent brain. This method allows a delivery of small volumes (from 20 to 100 nl), reduces bleeding risks, and minimizes passive diffusion of drugs into the brain parenchyma. By using different size of capillary glass tubes, or changing the needle lumen, several types of substances and cells can be injected. Microinjections with a glass capillary tube represent a significant improvement in injection techniques and deep brain targeting with minimal collateral damage in small rodents.

Changes of polyphosphoinositides, lysophospholipid, and free fatty acids in transient cerebral ischemia of rat brain

Phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PIP), phosphatidylinositol 4, 5-bisphosphate (PIP2), 1, 2-diglyceride (DG), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), and free fatty acids (FFA) contents, as well as their fatty acid composition, were measured in transient global cerebral ischemia. ATP and CTP were also studied. Male Wistar rats were subjected to 1, 5, and 30 min of ischemia and 10, 30, and 60 min of recirculation following 30 min of ischemia. In addition, for the quantification of PI, PIP, and PIP2, rats were also subjected to 30 and 60 min of recirculation following 5 min of ischemia. PIP2 and PIP decreased rapidly during 5 min of ischemia and recovered completely after recirculation. DG increased almost at the same rate during ischemia and returned to normal after recirculation. PI showed almost no changes throughout entire course. LPC increased during 5 min of ischemia and returned to normal after recirculation. Stearic acid and arachidonic acid contained in DG increased during 5 min of ischemia, whereas saturated fatty acids increased in LPC. Among the FFA accumulated during ischemia, stearic acid and arachidonic acid increased rapidly and were followed by increases of other FFA. From these results, the pathways for the increase of FFA during ischemia and the fate of FFA after recirculation are discussed. In addition, the importance of the changes of PIP, PIP2, and LPC is also discussed.

Purification and properties of acyl-CoA:1-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine-O-acyltransferase from bovine brain microsomes

Acyl-CoA:1-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine-O-acyltransferase has been purified approximately 3000-fold from bovine brain microsomes by detergent solubilization followed by ion-exchange and affinity chromatography. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate revealed a single protein of molecular weight 43,000. The specificity of the purified enzyme was studied by measuring the catalytic activity with various lysophospholipids and acyl-CoA derivatives. Of the lysophospholipids tested, only lysophosphatidylcholine was a substrate. Less specificity was exhibited toward the acyl-CoA derivatives, although the enzyme showed a clear preference for arachidonoyl-CoA and little or no activity with palmitoyl-CoA or stearoyl-CoA. High concentrations of arachidonoyl-CoA inhibited the enzyme. The velocity was a sigmoidal function of the concentration of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) with little activity obtained below 20 microM LPC. The specificity and kinetic properties of the enzyme were altered, however, by incorporation of the enzyme into liposomes composed of a mixture of phospholipids. Decanoyl-CoA and myristoyl-CoA, which were effective substrates for the soluble enzyme, did not serve as acyl donors for the liposome-bound acyltransferase. Furthermore, the liposome-bound enzyme, in contrast to the soluble form of the enzyme, was active at concentrations of LPC below the critical micelle concentration. The liposome-bound enzyme was also substantially less susceptible to thermal denaturation and proteolytic digestion. This modulation of the acyltransferase activity by interaction with phospholipids may relate to the kinetic properties and the regulation of the enzyme in vivo.

Lipids of nervous tissue: composition and metabolism

As indicated in the Introduction, the many significant developments in the recent past in our knowledge of the lipids of the nervous system have been collated in this article. That there is a sustained interest in this field is evident from the rather long bibliography which is itself selective. Obviously, it is not possible to summarize a review in which the chemistry, distribution and metabolism of a great variety of lipids have been discussed. However, from the progress of research, some general conclusions may be drawn. The period of discovery of new lipids in the nervous system appears to be over. All the major lipid components have been discovered and a great deal is now known about their structure and metabolism. Analytical data on the lipid composition of the CNS are available for a number of species and such data on the major areas of the brain are also at hand but information on the various subregions is meagre. Such investigations may yet provide clues to the role of lipids in brain function. Compared to CNS, information on PNS is less adequate. Further research on PNS would be worthwhile as it is amenable for experimental manipulation and complex mechanisms such as myelination can be investigated in this tissue. There are reports correlating lipid constituents with the increased complexity in the organization of the nervous system during evolution. This line of investigation may prove useful. The basic aim of research on the lipids of the nervous tissue is to unravel their functional significance. Most of the hydrophobic moieties of the nervous tissue lipids are comprised of very long chain, highly unsaturated and in some cases hydroxylated residues, and recent studies have shown that each lipid class contains characteristic molecular species. Their contribution to the properties of neural membranes such as excitability remains to be elucidated. Similarly, a large proportion of the phospholipid molecules in the myelin membrane are ethanolamine plasmalogens and their importance in this membrane is not known. It is firmly established that phosphatidylinositol and possibly polyphosphoinositides are involved with events at the synapse during impulse propagation, but their precise role in molecular terms is not clear. Gangliosides, with their structural complexity and amphipathic nature, have been implicated in a number of biological events which include cellular recognition and acting as adjuncts at receptor sites. More recently, growth promoting and neuritogenic functions have been ascribed to gangliosides. These interesting properties of gangliosides wIll undoubtedly attract greater attention in the future.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

On the status of lysolecithin in rat cerebral cortex during ischemia

Lysolecithin (lysoglycerophosphocholine, LPC) was isolated from rat cerebral cortex and quantitatively analyzed at various times after postdecapitative ischemic treatment. In addition, different procedures for extraction and analysis of the LPC in brain were evaluated. Results indicated that LPC can be quantitatively extracted into the organic phase using the conventional extraction procedure with chloroform-methanol (2:1, vol/vol). However, care should be taken to avoid using strong acids, which can hydrolyze the alkenylether side chain of the plasmalogens, resulting in the release of 2-acylphospholipids. Quantitative GLC analysis using myristoyl-LPC as internal standard revealed a level of 1.8 nmol LPC/mg protein in brain with acyl groups comprised mainly of 16:0, 18:0, and 18:1. The acyl group profile reflects that the LPC are derived mainly from phospholipase A2 action. An increase of 46% in the LPC level was observed at 1 min after ischemic treatment, but this was followed by a steady decline. Ischemia induced an increase in the LPC species that are enriched in 18:0 and 18:1 fatty acids. The transient appearance of LPC during ischemia further suggests that this phospholipid is undergoing active turnover, possibly hydrolysis by the lysophospholipase. This mechanism of action may account, at least in part, for the increase in both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids during the early phase of the ischemic treatment.

The influence of specific phospholipids on the interaction of hexokinase with the outer mitochondrial membrane

Repeated washing of a brain mitochondrial fraction results in a progressive decrease in the proportion of mitochondrially bound hexokinase that can be solubilized during a subsequent incubation with glucose-6-phosphate (glucose-6-P). Phospholipids removed during the washing procedure can be added back to washed mitochondria, resulting in enhancement of the solubilization by glucose-6-P. Column and thin-layer chromatographic methods have been used to isolate and identify active phospholipids. Additional studies were performed with purified lipids obtained commercially. Both lysophospholipids and acidic phospholipids were active in enhancing solubilization of hexokinase by glucose-6-P. Phospho-inositides, particularly diphosphoinositide, were quite effective, raising the possibility that the actively metabolized phosphoinositides may be involved in regulation of hexokinase binding in vivo.

The involvement of lysophosphoglycerides in neurotransmitter release; the composition and turnover of phospholipids of synaptic vesicles of guinea-pig cerebral cortex and Torpedo electric organ and the effect of stimulation

(1) Crude synaptosomal fractions (P2) derived from guinea-pig cerebral cortex were incubated in the presence of 50 mM KCl in a Krebs-glucose medium. Torpedo marmorata electric organs were stimulated electrically in vivo at 5 pulses/sec for 30 min by electrodes placed on the electric lobe. Synaptic vesicles were isolated from each source and the phospholipid compositions analysed and compared with vesicles from unstimulated controls. (2) Lysophosphatidylcholine was the only lysophosphoglyceride demonstrable in the synaptic vesicles from either source and its low levels did not increase as a result of chemical or electircal stimulation. In each case there was a close similarity of the phospholipid distributions in the vesicles taken from control and stimulated samples. (3) Control experiments indicated extensive decreases in the acetylcholine content of the vesicles from the stimulated electric organ and smaller decreases in the acetylcholine content of the synaptic vesicles from stimulated crude synaptosomal fractions. These fractions were found to respire linearly in the presence of 10 mM glucose and the vesicle fractions were shown to have low levels of contaiminating membranes as judged by marker enzyme analyses. (4) Crude synaptosomal fractions from guinea-pig cerebral cortex were incubated in a Krebs-glucose medium with labelled fatty acids and [3H]glucose in the presence or absence of 50 mM KCl. Subsynaptosomal fractionation was carried out and specific radioactivities of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol were determined in fractions D (synaptic vesicles), E (microsomes) and H (disrupted synaptosomes). The release of neurotransmitter did not significantly enhance the labelling of phospholipids in any of the fractions studied as compared with phospholipids from unstimulated fractions. This was found after two incubation times and using [14C]oleate, [14C]arachidonate, [3H]palmitate and [3H]glucose.

Phospholipase A-1 of human blood platelets

Substantial phospholipase A(1) activity has been demonstrated in human blood platelets, and a rapid method for its measurement is described. The enzyme requires taurocholate for full activity and in these conditions the pH optimum is 4.8. The phospholipase activity is released from platelets by incubation with thrombin.

Phospholipase A Activity in Rainbow Trout Muscle

A sensitive method for assay of phospholipase A activity in the lateral line muscle of rainbow trout is described. 14C labelled lecithin was converted to lysolecithin by the enzyme. Unreacted lecithin was removed by silicic acid column chromatography and the lysolecithin recovered by thin-layer chromatography. The amount of lysolecithin formed was between 43 and 87 mμmoles per gram lateral line muscle per hour under the experimental conditions. The amount formed was directly proportional to time between half an hour and 4 hr and the optimum pH was found to be approximately 7.5. The results are discussed in relation to the enzymic activity previously demonstrated in fish muscle.