BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN NEONATAL BRAIN 



99 



Mgs 



15 

 Days of Age 



Fig. 3. Dry weights of cerebellums from control and x-irradiated neonatal rats. 



dry weights following radiation exposure. Preliminary analyses for total 

 phospholipid revealed no consistent differences either among the different 

 brain com{X)nents or between control and irradiated animals (phospholipid 

 averaged approximately 80^r of the total brain lipid in both cases). How- 

 ever, the unit lipid content of irradiated brain stern was decreased signifi- 

 cantly at 16-20 days of age (Fig. 6). This inhibition of lipid synthesis was 

 closely proportional to a retardation of normally occurring dehydration of 

 the whole brain stem tissue. 



