The incorporation of ethanolamine into ether-containing lipids in rat brain.

After intracerebral injection of C(14)-ethanolamine into rats, the ethanolamine phosphoglycerides were isolated and hydrolyzed with mild alkali and acid. The specific radioactivity of the diacyl, acyl alkenyl, and acyl alkyl glyceryl-3-phosphorylethanolamine, the diacyl and acyl alkenyl glyceryl-3-phosphorylcholine, and sphingomyelin was determined at 0.5, 2, 24, and 48 hours. The specific radioactivity-time relationships show that the ethanolamine plasmalogen is not a precursor for the glyceryl ether form but suggest that acyl alkyl glyceryl-3-phosphorylethanolamine is desaturated to form some of the acyl alkenyl glyceryl-3-phosphorylethanolamine. The radioactivity in the choline portion of the choline phospholipids was very low.