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Fate of mRNA following disaggregation of brain polysomes after administration of (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide in vivo

James B. Mahony, Ian R. Brown

Bba Section Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis November 22, 1979 DOI: 10.1016/0005-2787(79)90092-3 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Experimental study Peer reviewed
Population Young rabbits
Intervention (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide
Topics LSD
Citations 15
Key findings (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide inhibits brain protein synthesis by causing polysome disaggregation and accumulation of intact mRNA on blocked monosomes, likely at late initiation or early elongation.

Abstract

Intravenous injection of (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide into young rabbits induced a transient brain-specific disaggregation of polysomes to monosomes. Investigation of the fate of mRNA revealed that brain poly(A+)mRNA was conserved. In particular, mRNA coding for brain-specific S100 protein was not degraded, nor was it released into free ribonucleoprotein particles. Following the (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide-induced disaggregation of polysomes, mRNA shifted from polysomes and accumulated on monosomes. Formation of a blocked monosome complex, which contained intact mRNA and 40-S plus 60-S ribosomal subunits but lacked nascent peptide chains, suggested that (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide inhibited brain protein synthesis at a specific stage of late initiation or early elongation.