Effect of degeneration of sympathetic ganglion cells on amino acid metabolism in cervical ganglion from the rat

Summary One week after sectioning of the postganglionic nerve of the cervical sympathetic ganglion of the rat, most of the nerve cell bodies have degenerated and disappeared from the tissue and have been replaced by Schwann cell elements. Free glutamic and aspartic acid contents in the operated ganglia remain unchanged from the control values. ¹⁴C-Labeling of free amino acids from ¹⁴C-glucose during incubation of excised ganglia was the same in operated and control ganglia, the major labeling being in free glutamate and aspartate in both cases. After section of the postganglionic nerve, ganglia still accumulated L- or D-glutamate from the surrounding medium for a short period, but for longer incubation time the degree of accumulation was relatively less. The operated ganglia lost the stereospecificity for glutamate transport which was found in normal ganglia. Speculations concerning the biochemical characteristics of amino acid metabolism in neuronal and Schwann cells are presented.This investigation was supported by a grant from Ministry of Education in Japan. Part of this work was presented in the First International Meeting for Neurochemistry, Strasbourg, France (Nagata and Tsukada 1967).