[Glycogen metabolism of neuronal systems of the spinal cord in experimental ischemia]

The authors carried out histochemical determinations of the glycogen level and the activity of some enzymes controlling carbohydrate metabolism (glycogen transferase and phosphorylase, succinate dehydrogenase) in the lumbar segments of the spinal cord of 40 animals (cats) with circulatory ischemia caused by aorta ligation. The examinations were performed at different periods of time after the ischemia induction under conditions of carbohydrate load. In the course of the pathological process development because of the ischemia (within a period ranging from 6 hours to 26 days) considerable variations of the glycogen-synthetizing capacities of the spinal cord nervous elements were revealed. These variations were of a periodic character. The number of glycogen-containing cells was maximal within a period ranging from the 2nd to the 10th day: this correlated with the highest enzymatic activity in this period. The glycogen content in a cell and the degree of the latter's damage were found to be in an inverse relationship. It is shown that different resistance of the nervous elements to hypoxia is determined to a great measure by their capacity to synthetize and deposit glycogen. Thus, the glycogen metabolism, being a specific compensatory-adaptive mechanism of the nervous tissue, is, thereby, a material basis of its vital activity.