Steroid acyl transferase activity in the mammalian brain

This thesis investigates steroid fatty acid esters (which may have a possible role in myelination of the central nervous system) in mammalian brain. While these conjugates are abundant in brain tissue, little is known about their biological role. When measuring steroid acyl transferase activity, the optimum substrate concentration was found to vary significantly between the sheep and rat brain. Results also indicated that different enzymes may act to esterify different steroid substrates.