Chronic administration of propionic acid reduces ganglioside N-acetylneuraminic acid concentration in cerebellum of young rats

Elevated levels of propionate comparable to those of human propionic acidaemia were achieved in the blood of young rats by injecting subcutaneously buffered propionic acid (PPA) twice a day at 8-h intervals from the 6th to the 28th day of life. A matched group of animals (controls) was treated with the same volumes of saline. The animals were weighed and sacrificed by decapitation at 28, 35 or 60 days of age. Cerebellum and cerebrum were weighed and their protein and ganglioside N-acetylneuraminic acid (G-NeuAc) contents determined. Body, cerebral and cerebellar weights were similar in both groups, suggesting that PPA per se neither alters the appetite of the rats nor causes malnutrition. Brain protein concentration was also not affected by chronic administration of PPA, in contrast to G-NeuAc concentration which was significantly reduced in the cerebellum. Since ganglioside concentration is closely related to the dendritic surface and indirectly reflects synaptogenesis, our results of an important ganglioside deficit in the brain of PPA-treated animals may be related to the neurologic dysfunction characteristic of propionic acidaemic patients. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.