Occurrence and postmortem generation of anandamide and other long-chain N-acylethanolamines in mammalian brain

• Published in: FEBS letters Vol. 375; no. 1; pp. 117 - 120
• Main Authors: Schmid, Patricia C., Krebsbach, Randy J., Perry, Stephen R., Dettmer, Timothy M., Maasson, Jeffrey L., Schmid, Harald H.O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 13.11.1995
• Subjects: Acylation; Anandamide; Animals; Arachidonic acid; Arachidonic Acids - metabolism; Brain - metabolism; Brain - pathology; Cattle; Cow brain; Endocannabinoids; Ethanolamines - metabolism; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; GC-MS; Mammals; mass selective detector; MSD; N-Acylethanolamine; NAE; Pig brain; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Postmortem Changes; Sheep; Sheep brain; Species Specificity; Swine; t-BDMS; tert-butyldimethylsilyl; thin-layer chromatography; Time Factors; TLC; Sheep brain; GC-MS; Pig brain; NAE; N-Acylethanolamine; Cow brain; TLC; t-BDMS; Arachidonic acid; Anandamide; MSD
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-5793(95)01194-J

Long-chain N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) were assayed in pig, sheep and cow brain by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of their tert.-butyldimethylsilyl derivatives in the presence of deuterium-labeled internal standards. Immediately after death, total NAEs ranged from about 2.7 μg/g wet weight (sheep, cow) to 6.5 μg/g wet weight (pig) and consisted almost exclusively (99%) of saturated and monounsaturated species. Anandamide (20:4n-6 NAE) comprised about 1% of total NAE in pig and cow brain, but was absent in freshly extracted sheep brain. When pig brain was analysed after 0.5, 1, 3, 4 and 23 h at ambient temperature, NAE levels were found to increase substantially over the entire time period with 20:4n-6 NAE formation exhibiting a time lag compared to that of saturated and monounsaturated NAEs.