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Ganglioside and phospholipid composition of forebrain, cerebellum, and brain stem from adult and newborn rats

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to elucidate whether sex or pregnancy state might affect the content and/or pattern of gangliosides from the forebrain, cerebellum and brain stem of rats. Adult male, mother (1-day after offspring) and nonpregnant rats of similar age were analyzed. Non-significant differences in ganglioside concentrations and patterns were found for the respective neural area of adult male and female rats except for a decrease in cerebellum and brain stem content from mothers and 12.0 months-old males, respectively. Thus, it seems that neither sex nor pregnancy hormones affect these parameters. By contrast, significant differences were found for pattern and ganglioside contents between adult (male and female) rats and newborns (1 day-old). Newborns showed a significant decrease in their forebrain (2.5-fold), cerebellum (2.0-fold) and brain stem (2.0-fold) ganglioside content when compared with adult (male and female) rats. Significant increases (p<0.001) were found in the phospholipid and cholesterol contents in the different brain areas in mothers versus their newborns. The phospholipid pattern also showed significant changes in all brain areas, with an increase (p<0.001) in phosphatidylethanolamine percentage in adult animals, among the main variations. An explanation for these facts is suggested.

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Abbreviations

NeuAc:

N-acetylneuraminic acid

TLC:

thin layer chromatography

PC:

phosphatidylcholine

PE:

phosphatidylethanolamine

PS:

phosphatidylserine

PI:

phosphatidylinositol

PA:

phosphatidic acid

SM:

sphingomyelin

PG:

phosphatidylglycerol

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Salamanca, (Spain)

    José A. Cabezas, Raquel Andrés, Pablo Hueso, Marcial Llanillo, Vicenta S. Martínez-Zorzano, Maximiliano Rodrigo & Jesús Sánchez-Yagüe

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  1. José A. Cabezas
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  2. Raquel Andrés
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  3. Pablo Hueso
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  4. Marcial Llanillo
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  5. Vicenta S. Martínez-Zorzano
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  6. Maximiliano Rodrigo
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  7. Jesús Sánchez-Yagüe
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Special issue dedicated to Dr. Santiago Grisolía.

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Cabezas, J.A., Andrés, R., Hueso, P. et al. Ganglioside and phospholipid composition of forebrain, cerebellum, and brain stem from adult and newborn rats. Neurochem Res 16, 781–785 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00965687

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