{"title":"Fatty acid composition of cerebrosides and phospholipids in brains of undernourished rats.","authors":"P S Rao","doi":"10.1159/000176250","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The effect of undernutrition on the fatty acid profiles of cerebrosides and phospholipids in the developing rat brain has been investigated. Undernutrition was imposed post-natally in pups by the method of large litter size and feeding a protein-deficient diet during the post-weaning period. The results showed that lignoceric (24:0) and nervonic (24:1) acids of cerebrosides, which are marker fatty acids of myelin, were significantly lower in 50-day-old undernourished rats than in well-nourished controls. Among the polyunsaturated fatty acids of phospholipids the contribution of arachidonic acid (20:4) to the total fatty acids was lower in 10- and 21-day-old as well as 50-day-old rats. Altered fatty acid pattern of lipid classes might be the result of impaired myelination of brain due to nutritional stress.</p>","PeriodicalId":19333,"journal":{"name":"Nutrition and metabolism","volume":"23 2","pages":"136-44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1979-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1159/000176250","citationCount":"11","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nutrition and metabolism","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000176250","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 11
Abstract
The effect of undernutrition on the fatty acid profiles of cerebrosides and phospholipids in the developing rat brain has been investigated. Undernutrition was imposed post-natally in pups by the method of large litter size and feeding a protein-deficient diet during the post-weaning period. The results showed that lignoceric (24:0) and nervonic (24:1) acids of cerebrosides, which are marker fatty acids of myelin, were significantly lower in 50-day-old undernourished rats than in well-nourished controls. Among the polyunsaturated fatty acids of phospholipids the contribution of arachidonic acid (20:4) to the total fatty acids was lower in 10- and 21-day-old as well as 50-day-old rats. Altered fatty acid pattern of lipid classes might be the result of impaired myelination of brain due to nutritional stress.