Effect of essential fatty acid deficiency on myelin proteins.

The effect of essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency on rat-brain myelin proteins was studied. Rats were maintained on a lipid-free diet and compared with control rats fed the same diet supplemented with 3% corn oil. At 17 days of age, each pup was injected with [3H]leucine and rats from each group were killed over a period of 163 days. Although a large decrease occurred in the total amount of myelin protein per brain, the proportions of constituent myelin proteins remained relatively unchanged. Metabolic studies showed a decrease in the net turnover of myelin proteins analogous to that previously demonstrated for myelin phospholipid (PL).