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Sexually Dimorphic Activation of Liver and Brain Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase by Dietary Choline Deficiency

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Abstract

Phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) activity was measured by a radioenzymatic assay in homogenates of brain and liver obtained from Sprague Dawley rats fed a choline-free or control (0.3 g/kg of choline chloride) diet for seven days. Choline deficiency increased PEMT activity in the liver of male rats by 34% but had no effect on hepatic PEMT in females. In contrast, brain PEMT activity was increased in brain of choline deficient females (by 49%) but was unaltered in males. Activation of the PE methylation pathway in female brain may constitute a compensatory mechanism to sustain PC synthesis during choline deficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, USA

    Patricia I. Johnson & Jan Krzysztof Blusztajn

  2. Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118

    Jan Krzysztof Blusztajn

  3. Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Loyola University Medical School, Maywood, IL, 60153

    Patricia I. Johnson

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Johnson, P.I., Blusztajn, J.K. Sexually Dimorphic Activation of Liver and Brain Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase by Dietary Choline Deficiency. Neurochem Res 23, 583–587 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022470301550

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