Synthesis and Translocation of Gangliosides and Glycoproteins During Urethane Anesthesia

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Abstract
In this work, we have studied the contents of gangliosides, glycoproteins, and phospholipids of the vesicle and plasma membreane fractions from brains of anesthetized and control rats and chickens and the labeling of gangliosides and glycoproteins in the retina ganglion cell layer and optic tectum of urethane-anesthetized and control chickens and the labeling of gangliosides and glycoproteins in the retina ganglion cell layer and optic tectum of urethane-anesthetized an control chickens after intraocular injection of a labeled N-acetylneuraminic acid precursor and the distribution of the label after subcellular fraction. We found an increase in the content of gangliosides relative to protein in the vesicle fraction of both anesthetized rats and chickens relative to their controls. Other results do not reflect a faster syntehsis of gangliosides stimulated by urethane, because their rate of labeling was diminished in anesthetized animals. During the 4-h period after the animals were injected intraocularly with the radioactive precursor, the highest values of ganglioside-specific radioactivity were found in the vesicle fraction of control and anesthetized animals; at longer intervals, the specific radioactivity of the vesicle and plasma membrane fractions became rather similar. These data are in accordance with previous studies from this laboratory suggesting that the synthesis of the carbohydrate chain of gangliosides is regulated by the physiological damands by the neurotransmitting system.