Metabolism of chimyl alcohol and phosphatidyl ethanolamine in the rat brain.

Following intracerebral injection of(14)C-phosphatidylethanolamine and(3)H-chimyl alcohol into 18 day old rats, the ethanolamine phosphoglycerides were isolated and analyzed. The(14)C and(3)H activities in the dimethyl acetals derived from alkenyl acyl ethanolamine phosphoglycerides and in the glyceryl ethers derived from the alkyl acyl ethanolamine phosphoglycerides were measured. The absence of(14)C in the dimethyl acetals indicates that phosphatidyl ethanolamine is not transformed into phosphatidal ethanolamine under these circumstances. The increase with time of the(3)H content of the glyceryl ethers and dimethyl acetals indicates that chimyl alcohol was a precursor of both types of phospholipids.