THE UPTAKE OF PURINES BY RAT BRAIN IN VIVO AND IN VITRO

Abstract— The uptake of [14C]guanine and some of its [14C]‐labelled derivatives into rat brain was studied in vivo and in vitro. In vivo guanine, guanosine, and hypoxanthine penetrated the brain of adult rats to a very small extent. Inosine was taken up somewhat better. In young animals, also, guanosine was taken up poorly, but guanine was taken up fairly well. When guanine was administered to adult animals, only guanine was found in the brain. In young animals, by contrast, radioactivity from guanine appeared in guanosine and in guanine nucleotides, but no free guanine was found. In vitro guanine was taken up much better and, in fact, remained mostly as guanine in slices from 10‐day‐old rats. The in vitro conversion of guanine to GMP and its incorporation into RNA was unimpaired by the addition of unlabelled guanosine, an indication that guanine was converted directly to GMP. The uptake of guanine in vitro was not subject to competitive inhibition or influenced by the presence of dinitrophenol. This finding suggested that guanine entered the slice by simple diffusion.