skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Lipid modulation of neuronal cholinergic activity

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6717605

Phospholipids are the major lipids in the plasma membrane, and it is now evident that the function of phospholipids exceeds that of the role of barrier between different aqueous compartments. Several lines of evidence suggest that a major plasma membrane lipids, phosphatidylcholine, may be a useful compound for modulating presynaptic cholinergic transmission. In order to investigate the effects of PC on cholinergic terminals, rat cortical synaptosomes were preloaded with (/sup 3/H)-ACh and then treated with small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) composed of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) at concentrations (0.8-1.5 mg/ml) similar to those found circulating in plasma. The effects of DPPC on levels, hydrolysis, release, and synthesis of (/sup 3/H)-ACh were then examined. Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine decreased the levels of (/sup 3/H)-ACh. This decrease does not result from a dilution of the radioactive (/sup 3/H)-choline by nonradioactive choline derived from PC. Specifically, it is the S/sub 3/ (cytoplasmic) level of (/sup 3/H)-ACh that is decreased by DPPC treatment. This decrease appears to be partially due to lipid activation of an intraterminal cholinesterase which results in hydrolysis of nonvesicular (/sup 3/H)-ACh. The ability of the lipid to interfere with exocytosis may account for the blockade of the K/sup +/ induced (/sup 3/H)-ACh release from the P/sub 3/ (vesicular) fraction. The high affinity choline transporter was competitively inhibited by DPPC treatment when synaptosomes were treated with DPPC prior to (/sup 3/H)-choline loading; the ubiquitous low affinity transport was not affected. These effects were specific for cholinergic neurons since the uptake and release of dopamine and norepinephrine from the substantia nigra and the cortex, respectively, were not affected.

Research Organization:
Florida Univ., Gainesville (USA)
OSTI ID:
6717605
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English