[Brain lipid biochemistry of the sturgeons Acipenseridae]

Abstract

Brain lipids of 4 species of sturgeons-Acipenser güldenstädti, A. stellatus, A. ruthenus and Huso huso-have been investigated. In whole brain homogenates the content of the basic phospholipid families, their fatty acid composition as well as the content of glycosphingolipids-gangliosides, cerebrosides and sulfatides were studied. The quantitative relations between different molecular ganglioside fractions and their fatty acid composition, as well as the relative content of hydroxycerebrosides and cerebrosides with normal fatty acids were determined. The brain lipids of Acipenseridae were compared to previously obtained data on the brain of Elasmobranch and Teleost fishes. The brain lipid pattern of the four sturgeon species is very similar, but it differs greatly from that of Elasmobranch and of Teleostean brain, being in some respect more like the type of bony fish brain, in others the kind of brain of sharks and rays, and frequently considerably differing from both these types. The conspicous peculiarity in the content and molecular characteristics of the brain lipids of Acipenseridae compels us to agree with the opinion expressed by the late A.N. Belozerski and his coworkers [26, 27], based on a detailed study of fish DNA nucleotides, that the Ganoid fish are to be regarded as an independent class.