Role of carbon dioxide fixation, blood aspartate and glutamate in the adaptation of amphibian brain tissues to a hyperosmotic internal environment

13C nuclear magnetic resonance evidence for gamma-aminobutyric acid formation via pyruvate carboxylase in rat brain: a metabolic basis for compartmentation

The compartmentation of amino acid metabolism is an active and important area of brain research. 13C labeling and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are powerful tools for studying metabolic pathways, because information about the metabolic histories of metabolites can be determined from the appearance and position of the label in products. We have used 13C labeling and 13C NMR in order to investigate the metabolic history of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate in rat brain. [1-13C]Glucose was infused into anesthetized rats and the 13C labeling patterns in GABA and glutamate examined in brain tissue extracts obtained at various times after infusion of the label. Five minutes after infusion, most of the 13C label in glutamate appeared at the C4 position; at later times, label was also present at C2 and C3. This 13C labeling pattern occurs when [1-13C]glucose is metabolized to pyruvate by glycolysis and enters the pool of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) intermediates via pyruvate dehydrogenase. The label exchanges into glutamate from the TCA cycle pool through glutamate transaminases or dehydrogenase. After 30 min of infusion, approximately 10% of the total 13C in brain extracts appeared in GABA, primarily (greater than 80%) at the amino carbon (C4), indicating that the GABA detected is labeled through pyruvate carboxylase. The different labeling patterns observed for glutamate and GABA show that the large detectable glutamate pool does not serve as the precursor to GABA. Our NMR data support previous experiments suggesting compartmentation of metabolism in brain, and further demonstrate that GABA is formed from a pool of TCA cycle intermediates derived from an anaplerotic pathway involving pyruvate carboxylase.

Effect of altered blood plasma osmolalities on regional brain amino acid concentrations and focal seizure susceptibility in the rat

Blood plasma hypo- or hyperosmolality alters significantly the concentration of some amino acids in brain tissues of the medial septum and hippocampus of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. With some notable exceptions, brain amino acid concentrations decreased under hypoosmotic conditions and increased under hyperosmotic conditions. Osmotic changes and brain amino acid changes appear to be related to each other in an almost linear fashion. A comparison of rats and toads indicates that the patterns of changes in brain amino acid concentrations in response to a hypoosmotic plasma osmolality were almost identical for both species. Changes achievable under hyperosmotic conditions were considerably greater in toads. When rats with kindled epileptogenic foci were made hypoosmotic by water-loading, seizure thresholds decreased dramatically. Our data suggest a possible relationship between the hypoosmotically induced biochemical changes in brain tissues (especially some amino acid neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter precursors) and the hypoosmotically induced increase in seizure susceptibility.

High proline levels in the brains of mice as related to specific learning deficits

Hyperprolinemic PRO/Re mice have been studied as potential models for hyperprolinemia in man. In addition to high proline levels, some heretofore unreported amino acid abnormalities in the brains of PRO/Re mice are described. The T-maze and shuttlebox learning abilities of PRO/Re mice were compared with those of CD-1 mice having normal proline levels. PRO/Re mice had a significant deficit for T-maze learning, but a significantly greater aptitude for shuttlebox learning when compared to CD-1 mice. By studying the F3 progency of the PRO/Re X CD-1 cross, these strain-specific differences in learning ability for different tasks were shown to be unrelated to the differences in brain proline levels. F3 mice could be subdivided into two distinct groups: those with high proline (HP+) and low proline (HP-) titers. Other amino acids in brain tissues were essentially identical in both groups. A comparison of learning abilities of these HP+ mice with their HP- littermates showed no meaningful differences. However, the slightly slower rate at which HP+ mice acquired shuttlebox learning was sufficiently consistent over the 8 day training period so that it became significant. These results do not support the hypothesis that high levels of proline in brain tissues and blood are necessarily accompanied by impaired learning and memory, but are in agreement with those studies of hyperprolinemia in man that suggest no consistent learning deficits in hyperprolinemic subjects. The results seem to validate the suitability of the PRO/Re mouse as a model for hyperprolinemia in man. The data suggest also that the altered amino acid pattern in brains of PRO/Re mice has multiple etiologies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)