Effects of focal cortical freezing lesion on regional energy metabolism

Freezing lesions have been shown to cause a depression in glucose use, particularly in cortical areas of the brain ipsilateral to the lesion, and this effect was interpreted to be caused by a depressed functional activity in these regions. The metabolic status of the affected areas has not been previously examined and could be a factor in the observed changes in local CMRglc. In frozen-cut and dried sections taken from brains 3 days after freeze lesioning, discrete pieces of the median and lateral parietal cortex, striatum, hippocampus, and hypothalamus were dissected and analyzed for ATP, P-creatine, glucose, and lactate. CMRglc measurements were also made in the same animals. The concentrations of the four metabolites were significantly increased in the lesioned hemisphere, with the most predominant effects observed in the cortical areas that exhibited the greatest depression in CMRglc. The enriched metabolite profile, particularly in the cortical areas, is consistent with the hypothesis that decreased glucose use in the traumatized brain is caused by diminished need rather than by decreased supply of energy. Because the lumped constant in the operational equation of the deoxyglucose method for determination of CMRglc is a function of brain glucose content and decreases gradually in hyperglycemia, the degree of metabolic depression in cortical areas of lesioned hemisphere probably have been somewhat overestimated in this and previous publications. However, provisionally recalculated local CMRglc in the lesioned hemisphere remain significantly lower than in the contralateral hemisphere and in the normal brain.