出版社：American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
摘要：Several lines of evidence have suggested that central nervous system development and function depend upon a supply of cholesterol that comes from low density lipoproteins (LDL-C). These studies test this hypothesis directly by measuring in vivo the uptake of LDL-C in nine regions of the central nervous system at five different stages of development in the fetal and neonatal sheep. The concentration of LDL-C in the plasma decreased from 49 mg/dl in the fetus 90 days before birth (-90 days) to only 10 mg/dl at -13 days. By 17 days postnatal this value increased to nearly 60 mg/dl. Throughout the period of development between -90 days (very early fetus) and 17 days (late neonatal animal) the weight of the brain increased 32-fold (from 2.3 to 73.6 g) and the content of cholesterol rose 100-fold (from 8.6 to 876 mg), yet there was no detectable LDL-C uptake in any of nine areas of the central nervous system at any stage of development (clearances of
