Phospholipid and ganglioside composition in rat cerebral cortex and cerebral white matter after chronic diazepam treatment.

Male Wistar rats with an initial weight of 170 g were maintained on a nutritionally adequate diet, and diazepam was administered in a dose of 10 mg/kg/d. Control animals were pair-fed on adequate diet. The feeding was continued for 180 days, and the effects on cerebral cortex and white matter lipid contents were studied. A generalized increase in the lipid phosphorus and lipid-N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuAc) level was found. The increase was statistically significant for phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine, ganglioside GM1, GD1a and GDIb in the cerebral cortex, as well as for phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidic acid in the cerebral white matter. There were no significant differences in the content and patterns of gangliosides in the cerebral white matter after the chronic diazepam treatment.