The influence of prenatal x-irradiation on the activity of sRNA-aminoacyl synthetases in the developing rabbit brain

The fatty acid pattern of central myelin lipids after transplacental intoxication by ethylnitrosourea

Porton mice were used in the experiments. Pregnant animals were injected intravenously with a single dose of ethylnitrosourea (ENU). The poison was administered at the 15th day of pregnancy. The cerebral myelin of offsprings of the intoxicated mothers was examined with respect to the fatty acid spectrum of myelin lipids. The results obtained lead to the following conclusions: The fatty acid pattern of the individual myelin lipid fractions has revealed significant differences between the normal myelin and that isolated from brains of mice that had been subjected to transplacental intoxication by ENU. Transplacental intoxication by ENU has not only a carcinogenic effect on the central nervous system, but it obviously also affects the lipid metabolism of membraneous structures of the developing brain. ENU when acting during foetal life induces the formation of deviated myelin, that differs significantly with respect to its lipid and fatty acid composition from that of normally developing animals.

Myelin lipids in the brain after transplacental intoxication with ethylnitrosourea

At day 15 of gestation pregnant mice were injected with a single intravenous dose of ethylnitrosourea (ENU) (80 mg/kg of body weight). The lipid composition of the myelin fraction isolated by means of differential centrifugation from brains of their offsprings was studied. The transplacentally intoxicated mice developed severe changes in the lipid composition of their central myelin sheaths, such as a markedly decreased galactolipid (both cerebroside and sulfatide) as well as plasmalogen contents. The results show, that besides being a well known carcinogenic agent, ENU is capable of affecting the lipid metabolism of the developing central nervous system. The resultant effect is the formation of a chemically defective myelin sheath.