Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 3, 2026
Non-invasive Optical Measurement of Cerebral Metabolism and Hemodynamics in Infants
Published on: March 14, 2013
Cerebral metabolic rate for glucose after neonatal hypoglycaemia
A Kinnala1, P Nuutila, U Ruotsalainen
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Turku, Finland.
Objective:
We studied the effect of neonatal hypoglycaemia on the local cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (LCMRglc).
Materials And Methods:
Eight newborn infants with neonatal hypoglycaemia were studied. The LCMRglc in the whole brain, in five cerebral regions and in skeletal muscles were quantitated using positron emission tomography (PET) and 2-[18F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG). The PET studies were performed at the age of 5.3 +/- 6.2 days during normoglycaemia. The LCMRglc of these infants were compared to the age-adjusted LCMRglc of eight infants with suspected hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury but with normal neurological development.
Results:
After neonatal hypoglycaemia the age-adjusted LCMRglc in the whole brain was not lower than LCMRglc of the control infants (5.33 +/- 0.60 mumol/100 g/min vs. 6.71 +/- 0.60 mumol/100 g/min). Also the metabolic rate for glucose (MRglc) in the skeletal muscles was similar in hypoglycaemic and control infants (5.56 +/- 2.48 mumol/100 g/min vs. 6.99 +/- 2.41 mumol/100 g/min).
Conclusion:
MRglc in brain and in skeletal muscle seems to be normal after neonatal hypoglycaemia, although larger group of patients with more severe hypoglycaemia are needed to confirm this finding.
