THE EFFECT OF THIAMINE DEFICIENCY ON THE ACETYLCOENZYMEA AND ACETYLCHOLINE LEVELS IN THE RAT BRAIN

Abstract— It is shown that transketolase activities in red blood cells and whole brain of normal and thiamine-deficient rats correlate well with heart frequencies.
The effect of thiamine depletion on the levels of acetylcoenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) and acetylcholine (ACh), and on the activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase, choline acetyl-transferase and acetylcholine esterase was studied in whole brains of thiamine-deficient, thiamine-supplemented ad libitum and pair-fed rats. The concentrations of acetyl-CoA and ACh decreased in thiamine-deficient brains by 42 and 35 per cent, respectively.
Total pyruvate dehydrogenase activity did not change during vitamin B₁ deficiency. The 'resolved' enzyme, reconstituted with thiamine diphosphate, had an association constant of 5.4 × 10⁻⁶ m . Choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholine esterase activities remained unchanged in thiamine deficiency.
Possible mechanisms which could explain the reduced Ach levels in vitamin B₁ deficiency are discussed.     

THE EFFECT OF HYPOXIA ON MONOAMINE SYNTHESIS, LEVELS AND METABOLISM IN RAT BRAIN

Abstract— Rats were exposed to 5.6% oxygen environments for up to 2 h. The accumulation of brain DOPA and 5-hydroxytryptophan at 30 min after decarboxylase inhibition was used to estimate cerebral tryosine and tryptophan hydroxylase activity, respectively, in vivo. There was a continuing decrease in tryosine hydroxylase activity during the 2 h in whole brain as well as five brain regions. Tryptophan hydroxylase activity declined during the 1st h, but then increased towards control levels during the 2nd h. There was an increase in brain tryptophan during the 2nd h as well. In whole brain and the five brain regions, there was no significant change in the levels of noradrenaline, dopamine or 5-hydroxytrypamine. During a 1 h exposure to 5.6% oxygen, there was decreased accumulation of noradrenaline, dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine after MAO inhibition and decreased accumulation of homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid after probenecid administration. The dercreased synthesis and metabolism of the monoamines is most likely attributable to insufficient brain tissue oxygen as a substrate for the two hydroxylase enzymes.     

BIOCHEMICAL EFFECTS OF THYROID DEFICIENCY ON THE DEVELOPING BRAIN

Abstract— The effects of neonatal thyroidectomy on some constituents of the cerebrum, cerebellum and liver of the rat have been studied during the first 7 weeks of life. In the normal rat between the 6th and 14th post-natal days the RNA content per unit of DNA in the brain increased by 70 per cent. Although the brain continued to grow from the 14th to the 35th day, the amount of RNA relative to DNA decreased by about 20 per cent. The ratio of protein to DNA increased during the whole period studied and in the cerebral cortex it was more than trebled between the age of 6 and 35 days. The growth of the cerebellum extended over a longer period than that of the cerebrum, its weight increasing by 88 per cent between the ages of 14 and 35 days as compared with a cerebral increase of 34 per cent. The DNA content showed a 50 per cent increase during this period. Qualitatively these maturational changes were not affected by neonatal thyroidectomy. Quantitative changes, which applied equally to the cerebral cortex and brain as a whole, were observed. At the age of 35 days, the weights of the cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum were reduced by thyroidectomy by 20 per cent; the overall DNA content per organ did not change, but the amounts of protein and RNA relative to DNA decreased significantly. It is therefore inferred that thyroid deficiency affects the size of the cells in brain and cerebellum rather than their total number. Conversely, the cell population of the liver was only a quarter of that in the control. There was a small but significant decrease in the hepatic protein and RNA content in the hypothyroid animal. The activities of the following enzymes which served as markers for subcellular fractions in homogenates of cerebral cortex were determined: lactate dehydrogenase for the supernatant, glutamate dehydrogenase for the mitochondrial and glutamate decarboxylase for the synaptosomal fractions. When the activities were expressed on a fresh weight basis a significant decrease by comparison with the control values was observed only in the case of glutamate decarboxylase (—15 per cent at the age of 17–32 days); when the activities were based on DNA content all values were reduced, probably as a result of the general decrease in cell size. Pyrimidine metabolism of brain and liver, studied after the administration of [6-¹⁴C]-orotic acid, was not affected in either tissue by neonatal thyroidectomy. A small but significant reduction in the incorporation of labelled pyrimidine nucleotides in liver RNA was observed, but no significant decrease in the incorporation in cerebral RNA was found in the hypothyroid rats.     

DARK REARING and VISUAL STIMULATION IN THE RAT: EFFECT ON BRAIN ENZYMES

Abstract— Enzyme activities in motor and visual cortex and cerebellum of rats reared for 50 days in the dark (D) were compared to levels in normally reared (N) and in dark-reared littermates exposed to 3 h of visual stimulation (L). Amongst 6 acid hydrolases, two, acid phosphatase and galactosaminadase, showed no effect of dark rearing. In three of the others, glucuronidase, glucosaminidase and galactosidase, activity tended to be lower in D than L. In glucosaminidase, N was similar to D and L above both, while in (total) glucosidase, galactosidase and glucuronidase, N was higher than D and L approached N. There were fewer changes in cerebellum than in cortex.
Visual cortex acetylcholinesterase was 29% higher in L than in D, and 41% higher in L than in N, but there were no significant differences in AChE or BChE in motor cortex or cerebellum. Choline acetyltransferase was higher by 30% in L and D in visual cortex, and 22% in motor cortex. There were no differences in the cerebellum. There were no differences in the levels of activity of glutamate decarboxylase or Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ -ATPase in any region or condition.
The significance of both the apparently transient and more permanent effects of dark rearing and light exposure on the enzymes studied, and discrepancies with other reports of enzyme changes in dark rearing are discussed.     

EFFECT OF PYRIDOXINE DEFICIENCY ON AROMATIC l-AMINO ACID DECARBOXYLASE IN THE DEVELOPING RAT LIVER AND BRAIN

—Maternal pyridoxine deficiency begun 2 weeks before mating and continued throughout pregnancy and the nursing period resulted in diminished wt. gains in the brain, the liver and the body in the first 16 days of life, as well as lowered levels of the aromatic l -amino acid decarboxylase in both brain and liver tissue. The fetus was protected from the effect of vitamin B₆ deficiency during pregnancy, since at birth the body wt., organ weights, and decarboxylase levels in these tissues were comparable to those of control litters. The brain was affected less than the liver, both in rate of wt. increase and decarboxylase activity. The cerebellum normally developed measurable decarboxylase activity only during the second week of life. The cortex normally slowly increased its low decarboxylase activity during the first week postnatally, with a more rapid increase during the second week. This rapid increase was primarily in the holoenzyme moiety. The rest of the brain, which had well developed levels of decarboxylase activity at birth, normally showed a sharp increase during the second week of life which was also largely in the holoenzyme portion. When the increasing weights of these tissues were considered, it became obvious that the total amount of apoenzyme as well as the amount of holoenzyme were increasing in the normally developing rat, although the greatest amount of the change was in the holoenzyme form. The liver normally showed a much more rapid increase in decarboxylase activity than did the brain, and showed the increase much earlier. The holoenzyme normally increased rapidly after the first 4 days, whereas the apoenzyme concentration levelled off at this time. The effect of the pyridoxine deficiency on decarboxylase activity was almost entirely on the holoenzyme form of the decarboxylase, since the apoenzyme form generally remained the same in the control and the deficient pups during development. There appeared to be no decarboxylase inhibitor present in pyridoxine deficient tissues, nor any evidence in control tissues for an enzyme required for the activation of the decarboxylase by cofactor.     

THE EFFECT OF LOW LEVEL CONTINUOUS 2.45 GHz WAVES ON ENZYMES OF DEVELOPING RAT BRAIN

The present work describes the effect of low level continuous microwaves (2.45 GHz) on developing rat brain. Some 35-day-old Wistar rats were used for this study. The animals were exposed 2 hr/day for 35 days at a power density of 0.34 mW/cm² [specific absorption rate (SAR), 0.1 W/kg] in a specially made anechoic chamber. After the exposure, the rats were sacrificed and the brain tissue was dissected out and used for various biochemical assays. A significant increase in calcium ion efflux and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity was observed in the exposed group as compared to the control. Correspondingly, a significant decrease in the calcium-dependent protein kinase activity was observed. These results indicate that this type of radiation affects the membrane bound enzymes, which are associated with cell proliferation and differentiation, thereby pointing out its possible role as a tumor promoter.     

EFFECT OF UNDERNUTRITION ON CELL FORMATION IN THE RAT BRAIN

Abstract— Rats were undernourished by approximately halving the normal food given from the 6th day of gestation throughout lactation. Growth of the foetuses was nearly normal, in marked contrast to the severe retardation caused by undernutrition during the suckling period. In comparison with controls the size and the DNA content of the brain were permanently reduced by undernutrition during the suckling period: this effect was relatively small, approx. 15 per cent decrease at 21 and 35 days. The rate of ¹⁴C incorporation into brain DNA at 30 min after administration of [2-¹⁴C] thymidine was taken as an index of mitotic activity; compared with controls there was severe reduction in mitotic activity (maximal decrease by about 80 per cent at 6 days in the cerebrum and by 70 per cent at 10 days in the cerebellum). The rate of acquisition of cells was calculated from the slopes of the logistic curves fitted to the estimated DNA contents. In normal animals the maximal slope was attained at 2·7 days and at 12·8 days after birth in cerebrum and cerebellum respectively; the daily acquisition of cells at these times was 4·8 × 10⁶ and 18 × 10⁶ cells respectively. The fractional increase in cell number at the maximum was 5·4 percent per day in the cerebrum and 15·2 per cent per day in the cerebellum. The rate of acquisition of cells relative to the rate of mitotic activity was higher in the brains of undernourished animals than in controls. One of the compensatory mechanisms for the severe depression of mitotic activity in the brain of undernourished animals Seems to involve a reduction in the normal rate of cell loss.     

大鼠隔—海马通路损伤对海马内递质含量及酶活力的影响

单侧切断大鼠海马缴和部分穹窿可使海马部分去神经。损伤后7d,海马内胆碱能系统中乙酰胆碱(ACh)含量下降72.5%,胆碱乙酰基转移酶(ChAT)活力下降45.7%,胆碱酯酶活力下降52.2%,在单胺能系统中,去甲肾上腺素(NA)含量下降16.3%,多巴胺(DA)含量下降31.3%,5-羟色胺含量下降30.3%。在损伤过程中,海马内氨基酸含量没有改变。实验结果表明,海马缴和穹窿是脑内胆碱能和单胺能传入神经到达海马靶区的部分共同通路。     

EFFECT OF METHIONINE AND METHIONINE SULPHOXIMINE ON RAT BRAIN S-ADENOSYL METHIONINE LEVELS

Rat brain SAM levels were markedly increased after methionine administration, whereas the convulsant, L-methionine-dl-sulphoximine (MSO), produced a 35 per cent decrease in whole brain content of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM). When methionine was given in combination with MSO, SAM levels were not decreased. Studies on the regional distribution of SAM revealed only a small variation between regions (from 24 nmol/g in midbrain to 49-5 nmol/g in striatum). SAM levels were reduced by about 50 per cent in the cerebellum, striatum, cortex and hippocampus 3 and 6 h after MSO. It is proposed that abberant cerebral methylation processes may be involved in the genesis of the MSO seizure.     

THE EFFECT OF ISCHAEMIA AND RECIRCULATION ON PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN THE RAT BRAIN

Abstract— Rats were subjected to cerebral compression ischaemia for 15min and were subsequently recirculated with blood for periods up to 3 h. In vivo incorporation of intravenously administered L-[1–¹⁴C]valine into total brain proteins was found to be severely inhibited (about 20% of controls) after 45 min of recirculation. After 3 h, protein synthesis had increased, the specific radioactivity of proteins then being about 40% of controls. The post-ischaemic inhibition of protein synthesis was accompanied by a breakdown in polyribosomes and a concomitant increase in ribosomal subunits. In vitro incorporation of L-[1–¹⁴C]phenylalanine by a postmitochondrial supernatant system derived from animals subjected to 15 min ischaemia and 15 min recirculation was also severely reduced and showed, in contrast to control animals, no response to the addition of a specific inhibitor of polypeptide chain initiation (Poly(I)). Together with the in vivo accumulation of ribosomal subunits this indicates a block in peptide chain initiation during the early stages of recirculation.
Polyribosomes from animals subjected to 15 min ischaemia without recirculation showed a normal rate of in vitro protein synthesis which was inhibited by Poly(I) to a similar extent as polyribosomes from control animals. These results suggest that the post-ischaemic inhibition in chain initiation develops during the early stages of recirculation rather than during the ischaemic period itself.     

EFFECT OF TRANQUILIZERS ON REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF ASCORBIC ACID IN THE RAT BRAIN

—Studies were made of the effects of fluphenazine, chlorpromazine and triflupromazine on tissue concentration, liver synthesis of ascorbic acid and its distribution in different areas of the brain. All the three drugs were found to increase liver concentration and synthesis of the vitamin at 24 hr after administration of a single oral dose of the vitamin, but only fluphenazine was found to increase its concentration in the adrenals and brain; the increase in the latter case was found to vary in different regions of the brain, the olfactory lobes, hypothalamus and residual brain showing maximum increases, andthe basal ganglia, visual cortex and remaining dorsal cortex showing minimum increases. The effects were found to be reversed 72 hr after drug treatment.     

刺激脑内渗透压感受器对大鼠浅表肾单位功能的影响

我们先前已在麻醉大鼠中用锂清除率方法从全肾水平证实,脑室内注射高张盐水(icv.HS)引起的利尿和利尿钠反应是由于肾小球滤过率增加和近球小管重吸收能力降低。本实验用肾小管微穿刺方法从肾单位水平进一步观察icv.HS对浅表肾单位的单个肾单位肾小球滤过率以及近曲小管和髓袢的重吸收的影响。实验在麻醉大鼠中进行。icv.HS后,单个肾单位肾小球滤过率从39.6±1.9nl/min增加至48.8±2.0nl/min(P<0.001);近曲小管末段小管液流量从20.5±1.4nl/min增加至28.4±2.0nl/min(P<0.001);小管液菊糖浓度与血浆菊糖浓度的比值从1.98±0.98降低至1.69±0.05(P<0.01)。根据上述数据计算得到的近曲小管重吸收分数从49.2±2.2％下降至41.7±1.8％(P<0.001),而近曲小管的绝对重吸收无明显改变。这些结果与用锂清除率方法获得的结果相符合。icv.HS后,髓袢的绝对重吸收升高,而重吸收分数下降。上述结果表明刺激脑内渗透压感受器可增加浅表肾单位的肾小球滤过率,并降低近曲小管的重吸收能力,从而增加髓袢的负荷,使髓袢的绝对重吸收增加。本实验结果不能排除icv.HS对髓袢的重吸收过程具有直接影响的可能性。     

EFFECT OF THYROID HORMONE ON THE BIOCHEMICAL MATURATION OF RAT BRAIN: CONVERSION OF GLUCOSE-CARBON INTO AMINO ACIDS

• 1 The rapid and extensive conversion of glucose-carbon into amino acids is an index of the final coordination of the mechanisms underlying energy metabolism in the adult brain. This phenomenon develops in the rat during a short period extending from 10 to about 19 days after birth. The underlying factors have been analysed.

• 2 The development of the pattern of distribution of glucose-carbon characteristic of the adult brain was markedly influenced by the thyroid state of the animals. The age-curve for the conversion of glucose-carbon into brain amino acids was displaced to the left after treatment with thyroid hormone (T₃) in infancy thus indicating an accelerated maturation. Conversely, neonatal thyroidectomy resulted in a significant retardation in the conversion of glucose-carbon into amino acids.

• 3 The specific radioactivity of glutamate increased five-fold in the brain of normal rats from the 10th to the 19th day of age. The values (as a percentage of those for littermate controls) were 220 in the case of the 10 day-old thyroid treated rats and about 30 for the 19 day-old thyroid deficient animals. At the age of 10 days neither treatment affected the concentration of glutamate which was also only slightly less than the control values in the brain of 19 day-old thyroid deficient animals (–17 per cent).

• 4 Specific pool(s) of glutamate associated with the formation of GABA can be demonstrated in the brain of 19 day-old rats after administration of [U-¹⁴C]glucose as a result of anoxia post mortem. These pools did not develop in the brain of 10 day-old animals. Neonatal thyroidectomy retarded the development of these glutamate pools.

• 5 Evidence is summarized which indicates that the development of the rapid conversion of glucose-carbon into amino acids reflects the enlargement, during maturation, of the metabolic compartments which are associated with neuronal processes.

     

EFFECT OF UNDERNUTRITION ON AMINO ACID COMPARTMENTATION IN THE DEVELOPING RAT BRAIN

—Rat pups undernourished through 21 days of age show abnormal patterns of cerebral amino acid metabolism. The pattern of incorporation of radioactivity from l -[U-¹⁴C]leucine into amino acids derived from tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates was altered, with significantly more ¹⁴C being incorporated into glutamate and aspartate in the underfed rats than in controls. Glutamate compartmentation, manifested in the ratio of specific radioactivities of glutamine to glutamate, developed more slowly in the. diet-restricted group. These results are similar to those seen in neonatally-thyroidectomized rats and suggest decreased growth of neuronal processes. This impairment of amino acid metabolism returns to normal after a 7-week period of adequate nutrition.     

腹腔和脑室注射促肾上腺皮质激素对大鼠不同脑区5-羟色胺含量的影响

本文应用荧光分光光度法测定脑内5-羟色胺(5-HT)含量,观察腹腔内注射(ip)或侧脑室内注射(icv)促肾上腺皮质激素(ACTH)对大鼠海马、下丘脑和中-桥脑内5-HT 含量的影响,结果如下:(1)ACTH(20.0U/kg)ip 可使海马、下丘脑和中-桥脑内5-HT 含量增多,1h达高峰,与对照组比较差异非常显著(P<0.01-0.001);ACTH ip 后3h,三脑区5-HT 含量基本恢复至对照水平。电解损毁中脑中缝核后,ACTH ip 使海马和下丘脑5-HT 含量升高的作用明显降低,摘除两侧肾上腺后,对 ACTH 增加三脑区5-HT 含量的效应没有影响。(2)ACTH(0.5U/10μl)icy 40min 后,也使三脑区5-HT 含量升高,与人工脑脊液 icv的比较,差异显著或非常显著(P<0.05-0.01);电解损毁中脑中缝核后,ACTH icv 使海马和下丘脑5-HT 含量升高的作用也显著下降。(3)ACTH ip 升高三脑区5-HT 含量的作用较 ACTH icv 的强,损毁中脑中缝核后,5-HT 含量的下降,前者却不如后者显著。上述结果提示:ACTH(ip 或 icv)之所以引起海马、下丘脑和中-桥脑5-HT 含量增多,很可能都与激活中脑中缝核有关,ACTH ip 尚可能有其它作用途径,但与肾上腺关系不大。     

EARLY EVENTS IN THE EFFECT OF HYDROCORTISONE ACETATE ON DNA REPLICATION IN THE RAT BRAIN

—Between the injection of hydrocortisone acetate to young rats and the onset of inhibition of DNA synthesis in brain, there is a lag period of 90 min. During these 90 min the only major alteration observed is a reduced formation of the DNA associated proteins while the synthesis of other brain proteins as well as that of RNA is normal. The specific activity of the enzymes thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase is also within control values. At later times, there is an inhibition in the synthesis of all brain proteins measured and of RNA and in the specific activity of the thymidine kinase. The specific activity of DNA polymerase remains normal throughout the period studied. These results indicate an important role for the DNA associated proteins in the regulation of DNA replication in rat brain.     

EFFECT OF OLIGEMIA ON REGIONAL METABOLITE LEVELS IN CAT BRAIN

Abstract— Incomplete cerebral ischemia (oligemia) was produced in cat by carotid occlusion combined with arterial hypotension. Lowering arterial pressure to 50–60 Torr for 20 min caused marked alterations of the ATP, phosphocreatine, and lactate content of subcortical white matter. In contrast, metabolite levels in cerebral cortex and caudate nucleus were only moderately perturbed from control values. More severe oligemia resulted when arterial pressure was lowered to 30 Torr for 20 min following carotid occlusion. Metabolite levels in cortex, caudate nucleus, and white matter were greatly altered from control. In the gray matter there was regional heterogeneity of metabolic alteration, as evidenced from the pattern of NADH tissue fluorescence. The cortex contained micro-patches (0.1mm) of increased NADH, which frequently exhibited a columnar orientation.
These findings demonstrate two distinct types of cerebral inhomogeneity of metabolic failure with reduced blood flow; white matter fails before gray matter, and there is micro-heterogeneity of metabolic failure in the gray matter.