[Effect of precursors and cofactors of nucleic acid and protein synthesis on the response of cortical neurons induced by polarization]

Abstract

Injection of K-orotate and folic acid in different proportions and of vitamine B12 produces changes in the S35-methionine inclusion in the proteins of the sensorimotor cortex, basal ganglia, hypothalamus and hippocampus depending on the proportions of the injected agents. In animals with activation of the synthesis in the brain, surface anode polarization increased the mean frequency of spike activity of the neurones in the sensorimotor cortex and reduced the relative number of units, which responded to polarization by inhibition, as compared with the control animals and those in which no activation of protein synthesis was observed. The characteristics of cortical unit responses to surface anode polarization in experimental rats are apparently due to changes in the chemoreactive properties of their membranes, which set in under the influence of changes in the nucleic acid and protein synthesis in these neurones.