Summary
Plasmalogenase catalyzes the hydrolysis of ethanolamine plasmalogens to long-chain aldehydes and 2-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamines. During development, plasmalogenase activity parallels myelination. The enzyme is most concentrated within oligodendroglial cells and is absent from myelin. The normal function of plasmalogenase in white matter may be related to its specificity for plasmalogens that contain most of the thromboxane and prostaglandin precursors.
Plasmalogenase activities are elevated in demyelinating CNS tissues including canine white matter with lesions due to distemper virus. Elevated plasmalogenase activity precedes cellular invasion and lysosomal activation as indicated by β-glucuronidase, acid proteinase and neutral proteinase activities. The elevation of plasmalogenase activity was 4.9-fold greater than normal in an early demyelinating lesion caused by the Snyder-Hill strain of distemper virus. Phospholipases acting on phosphatidyl ethanolamine were not activated in this tissue and have activities much lower than plasmalogenase in control tissues. Plasmalogenase activities are also elevated after intracerebral injections of complement-dependent anti-myelin antibody and after ischemia. Plasmalogenase acting on the oligodendrocyte plasma membrane may be responsible for necrosis of the oligodendrocyte that results in demyelination.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ansell, G.B. and Spanner, S., The magnesium ion-dependent cleavage of the vinyl ether linkage of brain ethanolamine plasmalogen, Biochem. J. 94 (1965) 252–258.
Ansell, G.B. and Spanner, S., The activity of plasmalogenase in brain of developing rat, in Variation in Chemical Composition of Nervous System (G.B. Ansell, ed.) Pergamon Press, Oxford, 7; 1966 ).
Ansell, G.B. and Spanner, S., Plasmalogenase activity in normal and demyelinating tissue of the central nervous system, Biochem. J. 108 (1968) 207–209.
Autilio, L.A., Norton, W.T. and Terry, R.D., The preparation and some properties of purified myelin from the central nervous system. J. Neurochem. 11 (1964) 17–27.
Clendenon, N.R., Allen, N., Komatsu, T., Liss, L., Gordon, W.A. and Heimberger, K., Biochemical alteration in anoxic-ischemic lesion of rat brain, Arch. Neurol. 25 (1971) 432–448.
Cooper, M.F. and Webster, G.R., The differentiation of phospholipase A and A in rat and human nervous tissues, J. Neurochem. 17 (1970)1543–1554.
D’Amato, R.A., Horrocks, L.A. and Richardson, K.E., Kinetic properties of plasmalogenase from bovine brain, J. Neurochem. 24 (1975) 1251–1255.
Dorman, R.V., Toews, A.D. and Horrocks, L.A., Plasmalogenase activities in neuronal perikarya, astroglia and oligodendroglia isolated from bovine brain, J. Lipid. Res. 18 (1977) 115–117.
Dorman, R.V., Freysz, L., Mandel, P. and Horrocks, L.S., Plasmalogenase activities in the brains of Jimpy and Quaking mice, J. Neurochem., in press.
Dowling, P.C., Kim, S.U. and Murray, M.R., Serum 19S and 7S demyelinating antibodies in multiple sclerosis, J. Immunol. 101 (1968) 1101–1104.
Gottfried, E.L. and Rapport, M.M., The biochemistry of plasmalogens. I. Isolation and characterization of phosphatidal choline, a pure native plasmalogen, J. Biol. Chem. 237 (1962) 329–333.
Griesemer, R.A. and Gibson, J.P., The gnotobiotic dog, Lab. Animal Care 13 (Suppl.) (1963) 643–648.
Hall, S., The effect of injections of lysophosphatidyl choline into white matter of the adult mouse spinal cord, J. Cell. Sci. 10 (1972) 535–546.
Hall, S. and Gregson, N.A., The in vivo and ultrastructural effects of injection of lysophosphatidyl choline into myelinated peripheral nerve fibres of the adult mouse, J. Cell. Sci. 9 (1971) 769–789.
Horrocks, L.A., The alk-1-enyl group content of mammalian myelin phosphoglycerides by quantitative two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography, J. Lipid Res. 9 (1968) 469–472.
Horrocks, L.A., Content, composition and metabolism of mammalian and avian lipids that contain ether groups, in Ether Lipids–Chemistry and Biology ( F. Snyder, ed.) Academic Press, New York (1972) pp. 177–272.
Horrocks, L.A. and Fu, S.C., Pathway for hydrolysis of plasmalogens in brain, in Enzymes of Lipid Metabolism (S. Gatt, L. Freysz and P. Mandel, eds.) Plenum Press, New York, in press.
Horrocks, L.A., Toews, A.D., Locke, G.E. and Yashon, D., Changes in myelin following trauma of spinal cord in monkey, Neurobiology 3 (1973) 256–263.
Horrocks, L.A., Sun, G.Y. and D’Amato, R.A., Changes in brain lipids during aging, in Neurobiology of Aging (J.M. Ordy and K.R. Brizzee, eds.) Plenum Press, New York (1975) pp. 359–369.
Hughes, D. and Field, E.J., Myelotoxicity of serum and spinal fluid in multiple sclerosis: a critical assessment, Clin. Exp. Immunol. 2 (1967) 295–309.
Koestner, A., McCullough, B., Krakowka, G.S., Long, J.F. and Olsen, R.G., Canine distemper: A virus induced demyelinating encephalomyelitis in slow virus diseases, in Symposium on Slow Viruses ( W. Zeman and E.H. Lennett, eds.) Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore (1974) pp. 86–101.
Krakowka, S., Mc.Cullough, B., Koestner, A. and Olsen, R., Myelin-specific autoantibodies associated with central nervous system demyelination in canine distemper virus infection, Infection and Immunity 8 (1973) 819–827.
Mandel, P., Nussbaum, J.L., Neskovic, N.M., Sarlieve, L.L., Farkas, E. and Robain, O., in Proceedings, Symposium of the International Union of Biochemistry ( Y. Pollak and J.W. Lee, eds.) Australian and New Zealand Book Co., Sidney (1973) pp. 410–422.
Marburg, O., The so-called acute multiple sclerosis, J. Psychiat. Neurol. 27 (1906) 213–312.
McCullough, B., Krakowka, S. and Koestner, A., Experimental canine distemper virus-induced demyelination, Laboratory Investigation 31 (1974) 216–222.
McMartin, D.N., Koestner, A. and Long, J.F., Enzyme activities associated with the demyelinating phase of canine distemper. I. Beta-glucuronidase, acid and neutral proteinase, Acta Neuropath. (Berl.) 22 (1972) 275–287.
Mc Martin, D.N., Horrocks, L.A. and Koestner, A., Enzyme activities associated with the demyelinating phase of canine distemper. II. Plasmalogenase, Acta Neuropath. (Berl.) 22 (1972) 288–293.
Miller, S.L., Benjamins, J.A. and Morell, P., Metabolism of glycerophospholipids of myelin and microsomes in rat brain, J. Biol. Chem. 252 (1977) 4025–4037.
Spanner, S., Ph.D. Thesis (1966) University of Birmingham, England.
Suzuki, Y., Tucker, S.H., Rorke, L.B. and Suzuki, K., Ultra-structural and biochemical studies of Schilder’s disease, J. Neuropath. Exper. Neurol. 29 (1970) 405–419.
Thompson, R.H.S., Myelinolytic mechanisms, Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. 54 (1961) 30–33.
Webster, G.R. and Cooper, M., On the site of action of phosphatide acylhydrolase activity of rat brain homogenates on lecithin, J. Neurochem. 15 (1968) 795–802.
Wise, G., Stevens, M.E., Shuttleworth, E.C., Donahue, T. and Allen, J.N., An experimental model for the evaluation of ischemia of the cerebral hemispheres, submitted for publication (1977).
Woelk, H. and Kanig, K., Phospholipid metabolism in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis - activity of brain phospholipase A toward specifically labelled glycerophospholipids, J. Neuro-chem. 23 (1974) 739–744.
Woelk, H. and Peiler-Ichikawa, K., Zur Aktivität der Phospho-lipase A gegenüber verschiedenen 1-Alk-1’-enyl-2-aryl-und 1-Alkyl-acyl-verbindungen während der Multiplen Sklerose, J. Neurol. 207 (1974) 319–326.
Woelk, H. and Porcellati, G., Subcellular distribution and kinetic properties of rat brain phospholipases A and A2, Hoppe-Seyler’s Z. Physiol. Chem. 354 (1973) 90–160.
Woelk, H., Kanig, K. and Peiler-Ichikawa, K., Phospholipid metabolism in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis–activity of mitochondrial phospholipase A of rat brain toward specifically labelled 1,2, diacyl-,l1-alk-1’-enyl-2- acyl-and 1-alkyl-2-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine, J. Neurochem. 23 (1974) 745–750.
Yanagihara, T. and Cumings, J.N., Alterations of phospholipids, particularly plasmalogens, in the demyelination of multiple sclerosis as compared with that of cerebral oedema, Brain 92 (1969) 59–70.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1978 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Horrocks, L.A., Spanner, S., Mozzi, R., Fu, S.C., D’Amato, R.A., Krakowka, S. (1978). Plasmalogenase is Elevated in Early Demyelinating Lesions. In: Palo, J. (eds) Myelination and Demyelination. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 100. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2514-7_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2514-7_30
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-2516-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-2514-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive