2-Deoxyglucose uptake in the thalamus of awake rats after neocortical ablations

Local, temporary or permanent depressions and elevations in 2-deoxy[14C]glucose (2-DG) uptake were observed in the brains of unanesthetized, freely moving rats that 3 days to 1 year earlier had sustained large unilateral posterior neocortical ablations. Some of the differences in metabolic activity between the normal and damaged hemispheres, in both cortical and subcortical regions, were attributed to cell death and gliosis, and surgical trauma. In addition, it appeared that certain metabolic changes provided a physiologic correlate of diaschisis, a temporary impairment in function which von Monakow hypothesized to occur in neurons denervated by a lesion. We concluded that the 2-DG technique is a useful tool for examining the widespread effects of brain damage, and that when employed in the manner exemplified by this and a previous study, the technique can disentangle the changes in neural activity which occur after brain damage from the changes in glial activity which accompany them.