Deposition and transfer of axonally transported phospholipids in rat sciatic nerve

Radioactive glycerol, ethanolamine, or choline injected into the vicinity of the cell bodies of rat sciatic nerve sensory fibers is incorporated into phospholipid. Some newly synthesized ethanolamine and choline phosphoglycerides are subsequently committed to transport down the sciatic nerve axons at a rate of several hundred millimeters per day. Most labeled choline phosphoglycerides move uniformly down the axons; in contrast, the crest of moving ethanolamine phosphoglycerides is continually attenuated. These data, as well as differences in the clearance of these phospholipids distal to a nerve ligature, suggest that various classes of labeled phospholipids are differentially unloaded from the transport vector (possibly by exchange with unlabeled lipid in stationary axonal structures) during movement down the axons. The extent of unloading appears to be defined by the base moiety; both diacyl and plasmalogen species of ethanolamine phosphoglycerides exchange extensively with stationary axonal lipids, while most choline phosphoglycerides continue down the axons. Autoradiographic studies with 3H-choline and 3H-ethanolamine demonstrated that most unloaded phospholipid is initially deposited in axonal structures; some of this unloaded lipid is subsequently transferred to the axon/myelin interface (axolemma?) and then to myelin. Although transported ethanolamine phosphoglycerides exchange more extensively with lipids in stationary axonal structures than do choline phosphoglycerides, at early times more label from 3H-choline is found in myelin. A model to resolve this seeming discrepancy is proposed, wherein a differential topographic localization of phospholipid classes in the membrane of the transport vector allows for a preferential extensive exchange of transported ethanolamine phosphoglycerides with lipids in stationary axonal structures, while choline phosphoglycerides become available for rapid transfer to myelin by a process involving vesicle fusion with axolemma.