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Developmental Changes in the Folate‐Dependent Enzymes of De Novo Purine Biosynthesis in Rat Brain
Author(s) -
Domínguez Joaquín,
Ordóñez Luis A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1982.tb08676.x
Subject(s) - purine metabolism , enzyme , purine , biochemistry , biosynthesis , biology , ribonucleotide , de novo synthesis , kidney , nucleic acid metabolism , metabolism , nucleotide , rna , endocrinology , gene
The activities of the two folate‐dependent enzymes in the de nova purine biosynthetic pathway (e.g., glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase and aminoimidazolecarboxamide ribonucleotide transformylase), have been evaluated as a function of age in crude extracts from rat brain, liver, kidney, and spleen. The activities of the enzymes in brain are similar to those found in liver and kidney. In all tissues the activity of both enzymes was higher during early development, more than nine times above adult levels. In the CNS the enzymatic activities are apparently related to the periods of increased nucleic acid synthesis, with different activities being found in different regions during development. Our findings lend strong support to the suggestion that folic acid‐dependent metabolism plays an important role during early development of the brain.