The L-enantiomer is the predominant type of amino acid in all living systems. However, D-amino acids, once thought to be “unnatural”, have been found to be indigenous even in mammalian systems and increasingly appear to be functioning in essential biological and neurological roles. Both D- and L-amino acid levels in the hippocampus, cortex, and blood samples from NIH Swiss mice are reported. Perfused brain tissues were analyzed for the first time, thereby eliminating artifacts due to endogenous blood, and decreased the mouse-to-mouse variability in amino acid levels. Total amino acid levels (L-plus D-enantiomers) in brain tissue are up to 10 times higher than in blood. However, all measured D-amino acid levels in brain tissue are typically ~10 to 2000 times higher than blood levels. There was a 13% reduction in almost all measured D-amino acid levels in the cortex compared to those in the hippocampus. There is an approximate inverse relationship between the prevalence of an amino acid and the percentage of its D-enantiomeric form. Interestingly, glutamic acid, unlike all other amino acids, had no quantifiable level of its D-antipode. The bioneurological reason for the unique and conspicuous absence/removal of this D-amino acid is yet unknown. However, results suggest that D-glutamate metabolism is likely a unidirectional process and not a cycle, as per the L-glutamate/glutamine cycle. The results suggest that there might be unreported D-amino acid racemases in mammalian brains. The regulation and function of specific other D-amino acids are discussed.

Background Diffusion MRI is routinely used to evaluate brain injury in neonatal encephalopathy. Although abnormal mean diffusivity (MD) is often attributed to cytotoxic edema, the specific contribution from neuronal pathology is unclear. Purpose To determine whether MD from high‐resolution diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can detect variable degrees of neuronal degeneration and pathology in piglets with brain injury induced by excitotoxicity or global hypoxia‐ischemia (HI) with or without overt infarction. Study Type Prospective. Animal Model Excitotoxic brain injury was induced in six neonatal piglets by intrastriatal stereotaxic injection of the glutamate receptor agonist quinolinic acid (QA). Three piglets underwent global HI or a sham procedure. Piglets recovered for 20–96 hours before undergoing MRI (n = 9). Field Strength/Sequence 3.0T MRI with DTI, T1‐ and T2‐weighted imaging. Assessment MD, fractional anisotropy (FA), and qualitative T2 injury were assessed in the putamen and caudate. The cell bodies of normal neurons, degenerating neurons (excitotoxic necrosis, ischemic necrosis, or necrosis–apoptosis cell death continuum), and injured neurons with equivocal degeneration were counted by histopathology. Statistical Tests Spearman correlations were used to compare MD and FA to normal, degenerating, and injured neurons. T2 injury and neuron counts were evaluated by descriptive analysis. Results The QA insult generated titratable levels of neuronal pathology. In QA, HI, and sham piglets, lower MD correlated with higher ratios of degenerating‐to‐total neurons (P < 0.05), lower ratios of normal‐to‐total neurons (P < 0.05), and greater numbers of degenerating neurons (P < 0.05). MD did not correlate with abnormal neurons exhibiting nascent injury (P > 0.99). Neuron counts were not related to FA (P > 0.30) or to qualitative injury from T2‐weighted MRI. Data Conclusion MD is more accurate than FA for detecting neuronal degeneration and loss during acute recovery from neonatal excitotoxic and HI brain injury. MD does not reliably detect nonfulminant, nascent, and potentially reversible neuronal injury. Evidence Level 1 Technical Efficacy Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;52:1216–1226.

Background Neurological deficits in hypoxic‐ischemic encephalopathy, even with therapeutic hypothermia, are partially attributed to white matter injury. We theorized that proteasome insufficiency contributes to white matter injury. Methods and Results Neonatal piglets received hypoxia‐ischemia ( HI ) or sham procedure with normothermia, hypothermia, or hypothermia+rewarming. Some received a proteasome activator drug (oleuropein) or white matter–targeted, virus‐mediated proteasome knockdown. We measured myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, proteasome subunit 20S (P20S), proteasome activity, and carbonylated and ubiquitinated protein levels in white matter and cerebral cortex. HI reduced myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein levels regardless of temperature, and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein loss was associated with increased ubiquitinated and carbonylated protein levels. Ubiquitinated and carbonyl‐damaged proteins increased in white matter 29 hours after HI during hypothermia to exceed levels at 6 to 20 hours. In cortex, ubiquitinated proteins decreased. Ubiquitinated and carbonylated protein accumulation coincided with lower P20S levels in white matter; P20S levels also decreased in cerebral cortex. However, proteasome activity in white matter lagged behind that in cortex 29 hours after HI during hypothermia. Systemic oleuropein enhanced white matter P20S and protected the myelin, whereas proteasome knockdown exacerbated myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein loss and ubiquitinated protein accumulation after HI . At the cellular level, temperature and HI interactively affected macroglial P20S enrichment in subcortical white matter. Rewarming alone increased macroglial P20S immunoreactivity, but this increase was blocked by HI . Conclusions Oxidized and ubiquitinated proteins accumulate with HI ‐induced white matter injury. Proteasome insufficiency may drive this injury. Hypothermia did not prevent myelin damage, protect the proteasome, or preserve oxidized and ubiquitinated protein clearance after HI .