A comparative study of the lipid composition of the brain of chicken and rat during myelination. A chromatographic and densitometric analysis

Abstract

The lipid profiles of brain from 10- and 18-day-old chick embryo, 1-day-old chick, and adult chicken as well as of full-term fetus rat, 21-day-old male, young adult male, and pregnant female rats were analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and densitometry. The emphasis was on the major glycolipids of brain during myelination (i.e., galactocyl diglyceride (GDG) normal fatty acid and hydroxyl fatty acid ceramide monohexosides (n-CMH, h-CMH, respectively)), and sulfatides (S) as well as the choline lipids sphingomyelin (SM), phosphatidyl choline (PC) and the two species of phosphatidyl ethanolamine plasmalogen (PE1 and PE2).Ten-day-old chick embryo brain revealed a low concentration of glycolipids, which increased gradually during development, and reached the highest level in the adult chicken brain. Rat brain did not begin to show the presence of these glycolipids until 21 days old. In addition, PE (i.e., PE1 and PE2) was shown to be the only alkenyle phospholipid in all samples analyzed. PE2 was shown to c...