Ethanolamine-O-phosphoric acid in rat brain

Abstract

Ethanolamine-phosphoric acid was identified in extracts of rat brain frozen in situ with liquid O2. The recovery of P from a sample of synthetic ethanolamine-phosphoric acid run on a 2-dimensional chromatogram irrigated with phenol and collidine/lutidine was not quantitative. Therefore the recoveries from tissue extracts by this chromatographic procedure represent minimal values only. After 3 hrs. the specific activity of the ethanolamine-phosphoric acid of the brain in the intact rat injected with p32 was approx. 50-70% of the specific activity of the inorganic + acid-labile phosphate fraction and many times greater than the specific activity of the ether-soluble phospholipin fraction. The results suggest that the major portion of the acid had not originated by the breakdown of the phosphatidylethanolamine in the brain. The synthesis of ethanolamine-phosphoric acid by isolated rat brain tissue was demonstrated.