Studies on molecular species of choline glycerophospholipids of developing rat brain

The chronological changes in molecular species of choline glycerophospholipids were studied for cerebra of 17-, 19- and 21-day-old rat fetuses, and 3-, 6-, 12-, 24- and 90-day-old rats. The molecular species found by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and selected ion retrieval technique were phosphatidylcholines of '30 : 0, 32 : 0, 32 : 1, 34 : 0, 34 : 1, 34 : 2, 36 : 0, 36 : 1, 36 : 2, 36 : 3, and 36 : 4' where the larger number indicates the sum of chain lengths on positions C-1 and C-2; the smaller number is the total number of double bonds. Of these molecular species, '32 : 0' (mainly 16 : 0/16 : 0, dipalmitoyl glycerophosphorylcholine), '34 : 1' (mainly 16 : 0/18 : 1, palmitoyloleoyl glycerophosphorylcholine), '34 : 0' (16 : 0/18 : 0, palmitoylstearoyl glycerophosphorylcholine), '32 : 1' (mainly 16 : 0/16 : 1, palmitoylpalmitoleoyl glycerophosphorylcholine and '30 : 0' (14 : 0/16 : 0, myristoylpalmitoyl glycerophosphorylcholine) were main species. The '32 : 0' species increased to about 44% at around the 10th day and thereafter remained nearly constant. '34 : 1' and '34 : 0' decreased to about 17 and 6% at that time and then increased to about 30 and 14%, respectively. '30 : 0' increased from last stage of gestation to the 6th day and then decreased. '32 : 1' was about 16% for 17-day-old fetus and decreased grandually. '36 : 1' (18 : 0/18 : 1, stearoyloleoyl glycerophosphorylcholine) increased at the latter part of development.