Lipid composition of the brain in the cobalamin inactivated fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus

The fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus, when exposed to nitrous oxide (N2O) for 8-10 weeks develops cobalamin deficiency and neurological impairment leading to ataxia and death. We report the lipid composition of cerebral tissue of control animals and impaired animals following exposure to N2O, with or without dietary folic acid supplements. There were no statistically significant differences in the concentrations of total lipids, phospholipid, glycosphingolipid, plasmalogen and cholesterol between the different groups, although the ratio of choline phosphoglyceride to ethanolamine phosphoglyceride in N2O exposed animals was slightly lower than in controls. Bats exposed to N2O showed slightly higher levels of the fatty acid linoleate (18:2) in their phosphatidylethanolamine relative to arachidonate (20:4) compared with controls. This increase tended to be more pronounced in the bats receiving dietary folic acid supplements (but p greater than 0.05).