Abstract
Sulfatide synthesis (SFS) in brain cells is a marker for cell differentiation. SFS was measured by incorporation of 35S04 into sulfatide in cultured brain cells of newborn mice at 13 days in culture after exposure to various glucose concentrations for the preceding 72hrs. This age range corresponds to an in vivo developmental stage of rapid myelination. Glucose extraction from the medium during the first 24hrs was independent from the initial glucose level down to lmM. Thus the duration of severe glucose deficiency (below lmM) was related to the initial glucose supply. SFS was progressively reduced with increasing duration of severe glucose deprivation reaching 3.5% of controls after 48hrs of glucose deficiency. In the cell homogenates the sulfatide synthetizing enzyme cerebroside sulfotransferase was similarly reduced following glucose depletion keeping a residual activity of 10%. This indicates that a lack of precursors or substrates was not the only cause of SFS reduction. Replenishment of glucose stores in the medium after a starvation period of 14hrs only failed to recover SFS. Reexposure of glucose deprived cells to glucose even led to a further decrease of SFS suggesting a possible toxic effect of glucose on brain cells previously damaged by glucose depletion.
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Zuppinger, K., Wiesmann, U., Siegrist, H. et al. Effect of glucose deprivation on sulfatide synthesis in dissociated brain cell cultures of newborn mice. Pediatr Res 13, 1186 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197910000-00038
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197910000-00038