Central Nervous Function and Changes in Brain Metabolite Concentration

Abstract

The content of glycogen and lactate in mouse brain has been estimated after a new extraction procedure which has been demonstrated to involve only a slight loss in amount of these two metabolites in comparison with extraction following freezing in situ. Five different methods of precipitating convulsions produced increases in the amount of lactate concentration at both subconvulsive and convulsive levels, but glycogen increased appreciably only when these methods produced a convulsion. It is concluded that glycogen increase in the mouse brain is specifically related to the occurrence of epileptic discharge in the brain. This increase has been shown to occur in all parts of the brain, though in varying degrees. Previous studies on these brain metabolites are discussed in the light of these results.