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Tissue S-adenosylmethionine levels in fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) with nitrous oxide-induced neuropathy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

J. van der Westhuyzen
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Research Group, School of Pathology, South African Institute for Medical Research and the University of the Witwatersrand, PO Box 1038, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
J. Metz
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Research Group, School of Pathology, South African Institute for Medical Research and the University of the Witwatersrand, PO Box 1038, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
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Abstract

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1. The effect of cobalamin inactivation by the anaesthetic gas nitrous oxide on the concentration of S-adenosylmethionine (Ado Met) in brain and liver of fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) was examined.

2. Test animals exposed to N2O–oxygen (50:50, v/v) developed ataxia and paralysis leading to death after an average of 9·8 weeks (n 6). Animals receiving pteroylmonoglutamic acid supplements in the diet became ataxic earlier (mean 8·8 weeks) while those receiving methionine supplements survived for significantly longer periods (12·5 weeks, P < 0·01).

3. Plasma cobalamin levels indicated severe depletion of cobalamin stores in N2O-exposed animals.

4. The mean concentration of Ado Met in the brain of N2O-treated bats was nearly 50% higher than that of untreated controls. Ado Met levels in treated bats receiving pteroylmonoglutamic acid or methionine supplements were respectively 18 and 25% higher than in controls. In contrast, the concentration of Ado Met in the liver of all the N2O-treated groups was slightly lower than in controls.

5. These results suggest that the N2O-induced neuropathy in the fruit bat is not related to a depletion of Ado Met in the nervous system.

Type
Papers on General Nutrition
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1983

References

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