Effects of orally administered cytidine 5′-diphosphate choline on brain phospholipid content

• Published in: The Journal of nutritional biochemistry Vol. 3; no. 6; pp. 313 - 315
• Main Authors: López G.-Coviella, Ignacio, Agut, Julian, Ortiz, J.Alfonso, Wurtman, Richard J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.06.1992; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Chemistry; CDP-choline; Cerebral Cortex - chemistry; choline; cytidine; Cytidine Diphosphate Choline - administration & dosage; Cytidine Diphosphate Choline - pharmacokinetics; dopamine; Female; Medical sciences; membranes; Mice; Miscellaneous; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phosphatidic Acids - analysis; phospholipids; Space life sciences; membranes; cytidine; choline; phospholipids; CDP-choline; dopamine; Cerebral cortex; Rodentia; Oral administration; Phospholipid; Cytosine nucleotide; Long term; Biological activity; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; Animal; Choline; Age; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0955-2863; 1873-4847
• DOI: 10.1016/0955-2863(92)90039-L

Cytidine, as cytidine 5′-diphosphate choline (CDP-choline), is important for the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine in cell membranes. To investigate whether exogenous CDP-choline could affect brain phospholipid composition, we supplemented the diet of mice with this drug (500 mg/kg/day) for 27 months in 3-month-old mice and for 90, 42, and 3 days in 12-month-old mice, and measured their levels of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS), and the content of phosphatidylinositol plus phosphatidic acid in the cerebral cortex. After 27 months of treatment, PC and PE increased significantly by 19% ( P < 0.05) and by 20% ( P < 0.01), respectively. PS levels increased by 18% (not statistically significant). Similar elevations in PC and PE levels were obtained when older mice were treated for only 3 months ( P < 0.05). No changes were observed with shorter treatment periods. These results suggest that chronic administration of CDP-choline can have effects on brain phospholipid composition that may underlie its reported utility in various neurologic disorders.