Activities of amidophosphoribosyltransferase (EC2.4.2.14) and the purine phosphoribosyltransferases (EC2.4.2.7 and 2.4.2.8), and the phosphoribosylpyrophosphate content of rat central nervous system at different stages of development--their possible relationship to the neurological dysfunction in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.

(1) This communication reports the amidophosphoribosyltransferase (PRPP-At; EC2.4.2.14), hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT; EC2.4.2.7) and adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT; EC2.4.2.8) activities and the phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) content of rat brain at different stages of development. The results are not age-related in the foetal and neonatal animals and the data for whole brain homogenates are similar to the average results for the individual regions of the brain at the same stage of development. (2) The enzyme activities and PRPP content are similar in the different regions of the rat central nervous system. PRPP-At has the lowest activity of the 3 enzymes studied and this decreases gradually from birth until 8 weeks. HPRT is the most active of the three enzymes, its activity increases markedly between birth and the end of the third week of life. The time course of these changes shows only minor differences between the regions of the brain studied. The ratio of HPRT activity to PRPP-At activity increases from age 1 week in all parts of the rat brain. (3) The APRT activities in rat brain are intermediate between those of PRPP-At and HPRT and essentially steady except for a decrease in the cerebellum during the first 3 weeks of life. (4) The PRPP concentrations in rat brain decrease between birth and the end of the 3rd week of life. (5) The systemic tissues examined have PRPP-At, HPRT and APRT activities. The relationship between the activities of the different enzymes appears to be characteristic of the tissue concerned. (6) Correlating the observed time course of the changes in the ratio of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activity to amidophosphoribosyltransferase activity in the rat with other workers' data on changes in the rate of DNA accretion in human brain during development indicates that the main increase in this ratio is after the major bursts of neuroblast and neuroglia proliferation. We suggest that the neurological dysfunction in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is due to lack of a purine derivative with a physiological or neuropharmacological function, rather than to an effect of the biochemical lesion on brain morphogenesis.