Contents of cystathionine and taurine in various cerebellar regions of DL-propargylglycine-treated rats.

The contents of cystathionine and taurine, as well as cystathionine beta-synthase activity, in various cerebellar regions and pineal body of normal and DL-propargylglycine-treated rats were measured. The contents of cystathionine and taurine were found to be distributed unevenly in cerebellar regions of brain of both normal and DL-propargylglycine-treated rats. The content of cystathionine in each cerebellar region and pineal body increased gradually when the dose of DL-propargylglycine was increased from 10 mg to 30 mg per 200 g body weight. On the other hand, taurine content in each cerebellar region and pineal body decreased with the administration of 30 mg of DL-propargylglycine per 200 g body weight. The contents of cystathionine and taurine were greater in the pineal body than in various cerebellar regions. The activity of cystathionine beta-synthase was also distributed unevenly in various cerebellar regions of normal rat brain, and was unaltered following treatment of rats with DL-propargylglycine.