Remarkable increase in 14G-acetate uptake in an epilepsy model rat brain induced by lithium-pilocarpine

The present study demonstrates changes in rat brain glial metabolism during the acute phase of epilepsy Status epilepticus (SE) was induced using the lithium-pilocarpine model Glial metabolism was measured with C-14-acetate Local cerebral blood flow and glucose metabolism were also measured using C-14-N-isopropyl-p-lodoamphetamine (IMP) and C-14-2-deoxyglucose (2DG), respectively At the initiation of the seizure, C-14-acetate uptake did not change significantly However, a marked increase was observed 2 h after the pilocarpine injection in all brain regions studied The increase of brain uptake was transient, and the maximum enhancement was seen at 2 h after the pilocarpine injection The increase of C-14-acetate uptake was almost to the same degree in all regions, whereas C-14-IMP and C-14-2DG uptakes showed a heterogeneous increase In the case of C-14-IMp, the highest increase was observed in the thalamus (280%), and a moderate increase (120 to 150%) was seen in the orbital cortex, cingulate cortex and pyriform cortex C-14-2DG uptake increased by 130 to 240% in most regions of the brain, however, an increase of only 40 and 20% was observed in the cerebellum and pons-medulla, respectively These results demonstrated that glial energy metabolism was markedly enhanced during a prolonged seizure To our knowledge, this study is the first observation showing large and widespread glial metabolic increases in the rat brain during status epilepticus (C) 2009 Elsevier B V All rights reserved