Local brainstem glucose utilization in the squirrel monkey

The 2-deoxy-D-[14C]-glucose method for the measurement of local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) in individual brain nuclei and regions has been applied to the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus). The determinations were conducted in five conscious, lightly restrained adult, female, Colombian squirrel monkeys. Local glucose utilization in brainstem structures (LBGU) was highest in nuclei involved in auditory and vestibular functions and in some nuclei involved in general motor activity. The values for glucose utilization (mumoles/100 g/min) were generally lower than in comparable structures reported by other authors in the rat and slightly lower than those in the macaque monkey. In the Beagle dog the values for "medulla" are markedly lower than for most individual structures in the squirrel monkey medulla, about equal in the inferior colliculus and appreciably higher in the superior colliculus.