Fatty acid biosynthesis in Wallerian degeneration of rat sciatic nerve.

In-vitro fatty acid biosynthesis was studied in normal rat sciatic nerve and during wallerian degeneration. Normal nerve incorporated 1,3-C14-malonyl-CoA and 1-C14-acetyl-CoA into fatty acids by a de-novo biosynthetic pathway. The reaction product with highest radioactivity was palmitic acid, and the free fatty acids of nerve contained 90% of the total fatty acid label. During wallerian degeneration, there was a rapid increase of fatty acid biosynthesis that reached a peak between 16 and 24 days after nerve section. Values declined to normal levels at approximately 50 days.