Free sterols in the rat white matter following experimental global ischemia

The pattern of free sterols occurring in the cerebral white matter was studied in an experimental model of global ischemia that was induced in rats by means of the method described by Korpachev et al. (1982) . Sterol isolation, separation and identification was accomplished by suitable extraction procedures followed by gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry of the purified sterol extracts. It has been shown that the percentage of lanosterol happened to decrease sharply following the ischemic state and other sterols, typically occurring in maturating brains and absent in the control brain specimens from adult rats, such as 4,4-dimethylcholesterol, 4,4-dimethylcholest-5,8,24-triene-3β-ol and 4,4,14-trimethylcholest-5,8-diene-3β-ol happened to appear. The appearance of these forms of free sterols in the postischemic brain is interpreted as a biochemical exponent of regeneration processes occurring in the white matter membranes following the injury suffered during the experimental heart arrest.