Accumulation of various N-acylethanolamines including N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide) in cadmium chloride-administered rat testis.
Changes in the levels of various molecular species of N-acylethanolamine in CdCl2-administered rat testis were examined. We found that the levels of various N-acylethanolamines including anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamine), an endogenous cannabinoid receptor ligand, were dramatically increased in CdCl2-admin-istered rat testis. Such changes were particularlyprominent for saturated and monoenoic species such as N-palmitoyl species (39-fold at 9 h) and N-stearoyl species (21-fold at 9 h), compared with unsaturated fatty acid-containing species such as anandamide (5-fold at 9 h). Noticeably, increased levels were observed of not only N-acylethanolamines but also several species of N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine, potential precursors for N-acylethanolamines. We confirmed that the rat testis microsomal fraction contains phosphodiesterase activity catalyzing the release of N-acylethanolamine from N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine and transacylase activity catalyzing the formation of N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine from phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. These enzyme activities were not dramatically different in the microsomal fraction obtained from CdCl2-administered rat testis compared with that in the case of control rat testis, at least when estimated in cell-free assay systems, suggesting that the accessibility of the substrates to the enzymes may be increased in CdCl2-administered rat testis to generate a large amount of N-acylethanolamine. Possible pathophysiological implications of the augmented generation of N-acylethanolamine including anandamide in CdCl2-administered rat testis were discussed.
Kondo
S
S
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo University, Kanagawa, Sagamiko, 199-01, Japan.
Sugiura
T
T
Kodaka
T
T
Kudo
N
N
Waku
K
K
Tokumura
A
A
D000818:Animals; D001095:Arachidonic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D019256:Cadmium Chloride; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D063388:Endocannabinoids; D004983:Ethanolamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009920:Orchitis / Q000378:metabolism*; D053284:Polyunsaturated Alkamides; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*
D001095:Arachidonic Acids; D063388:Endocannabinoids; D004983:Ethanolamines; C022203:N-acylethanolamines; D053284:Polyunsaturated Alkamides; D019256:Cadmium Chloride; C078814:anandamide