Cholesterol Esters in Rat Brain Infected with Acute Measles Encephalitis: Concentration and Fatty Acid Composition

Abstract

The present study deals with the concentration and fatty acid composition of cholesterol esters in rat brains infected experimentally with measles virus to induce acute encephalitis. The left side of the cerebrum, as well as other portions of the brain, when inoculated percutaneously contained a large amount of cholesterol esters. The major fatty acids from the esters in the brain were C16:0, C16:1, C18:0, and C18:1; those from the serum were C18:1, C18:2, and C20:4. This result indicates that cholesterol esters may not come from serum but can be synthesized in situ, even in the brain with acute viral infection.

Opsonization with Antimyelin Antibody Increases the Uptake and Intracellular Metabolism of Myelin in Inflammatory Macrophages

“…There has been much speculation as to the source of the fatty acid in the increased amounts of cholesterol ester seen in pathological tissue. Under several conditions, including sudanophilic Ieukodystrophy and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (Abe et al, 1983), the fatty acid composition of cholesterol ester resembled that of brain, more specifically the chain of lecithin, rather than thait of serum fatty acids (Eto and Suzuki, 1971). In results shown here the substantial amount of radioactivity 5 0 4000r I AS: Myelin Antiserum T found in the fatty acid of cholesterol ester indicates a myelin origin, although ethanolamine phosphatide, rather than lecithin, seemed to be degraded.…”

“…The occurrence of neutral lipid, which is principally cholesterol ester, within macrophages at the margins of MS plaques is well documented (reviewed by Norton and Cammer, 1984b). Large amounts of cholesterol ester are also found in brains with various other de-myelinating conditions including cerebral infarction, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, sudanophilic leukodystrophy (Ramsey and Davison, 1974), adrenoleukodystrophy (Igarashi et al, 1976), and measles encephalitis (Abe et al, 1983). Small amounts of cholesterol ester have also been measured in CNS of animals with EAE (Maggio et al, 1972).…”

Magnetic resonance imaging of experimental demyelinating lesions

“…No evidence was found on any lesions reviewed histologically to suggest that hemorrhage around the LPC lesions was responsible for the observed high signal rim. Other work has shown that in acute demyelination, cholesterol esters and triglycerides are markedly increased at the lesion sites ( 12,13).…”