Effect of hypoxia on the incorporation of [2-3H] glycerol and [1-14C[-palmitate into lipids of various brain regions.

The lipid metabolism in guinea pig brain after intermittent hypoxia, prolonged for 80 hrs, was markedly impaired. The in vivo incorporation of [2-3H] glycerol adn [1-14C] palmitate into lipids of microsomes, mitochondria, myelin, and synaptosomes, purified form cerebral hemispheres, was significantly lower in the hypoxic animals than in the controls. The same effect was observed on the incorporation of labeled precursors into lipids of mitochondria purified from cerebellum and brainstem. In particular, the labeling of th major phospholipids present - ie, phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) - in the mitochondria of the three brain regions examined decreased after hypoxic treatment.