Mapping Brain Spatial Metabolic Atlas Reveals Anesthesia-Induced Region-Specific Alterations

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Metabolomics
• Anesthesiology

Background:

• The brain's regional heterogeneity is crucial for consciousness.
• The spatial complexity of the brain's metabolome under anesthesia is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a spatial metabolomic atlas of the mouse brain under different anesthesia states.
• To investigate how anesthesia affects brain metabolism and cerebrovascular dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Spatial metabolomics was used to map 727 metabolites across 11 mouse brain regions.
• Cortical microvascular blood flow and oxygen levels were monitored during anesthesia.

Main Results:

• Anesthesia induced spatially dependent metabolic alterations, affecting lipid, amino acid, and neurotransmitter pathways.
• Different anesthesia types caused distinct changes in cortical hemodynamics, suggesting a link to metabolic shifts.
• An open-access database (https://mbsma.liulab.cloud/#/dashboard) was created for the dataset.

Conclusions:

• Anesthesia triggers spatial metabolic reprogramming in the brain.
• Findings offer insights into neural metabolism and cerebrovascular regulation.
• Results have implications for perioperative brain protection and anesthesia safety.