UNDERNUTRITION ALTERS THE HYPOTHALAMIC GANGLIOSIDE PROFILE OF THE FETAL-RAT

In order to investigate the effect of protein undernutrition on the ga ngliosides profile, hypothalami of control and undernourished fetal ra ts were incubated with [6-H-3]glucosamine. Tissues were extracted with chloroform: methanol, and the purified ganglioside fractions were chr omatographed on TLC plates. Chromatograms from both control and undern ourished rats showed the presence of ganglioside bands that comigrated as G(M1), G(D3), G(D1a), G(D1b), G(T1b), and G(Q1b). When the two chr omatograms were compared in terms of radioactive ganglioside distribut ion, the G(D3) label was found to be higher in the hypothalamus of und ernourished rats while the G(D1a) label was higher in the hypothalamus of control rats. Since G(D3) predominates during neuroblast and gliob last proliferation, while G(D1a) is important during synaptogenesis, t he present data may reflect a delay in hypothalamic development determ ined by protein undernutrition.