Tissue acid‐base balance and oxygen metabolism in human cerebral infarction studied with positron emission tomography

Abstract

Nine patients who had suffered strokes were examined between 10 and 34 days after onset using positron emission tomography. DMO labeled with carbon 11 was used to evaluate brain acid-base balance, and the oxygen-15 inhalation technique was used to measure regional cerebral blood flow, the oxygen extraction fraction, and cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen. [11C]DMO concentration and oxygen metabolism variables were measured in the infarcted area and in the symmetrical region in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. [11C]DMO concentration was found to be unchanged or slightly increased in five cases and markedly increased in four cases. The apparent increase in tissue pH can be explained by the presence of a large extracellular fluid space with a pH nearly identical to that of brain plasma, or by an increase in intracellular pH, or by both phenomena. The change in [11C]DMO concentration in the infarcted area relative to that in the normal tissue was independent of the change in blood flow. Cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen was decreased in all cases. The increase in [11C]DMO concentration in the infarcted area was linearly correlated with the decrease in the oxygen extraction fraction in the same region; that is, it was correlated with the occurrence of perfusion in excess of metabolic demand. The overabundant local perfusion could play a role in the decreased H+ content.

Penumbral tissue alkalosis in focal cerebral ischemia: Relationship to energy metabolism, blood flow, and steady potential

“…23,24 However, the high incidence of alkalosis in circumscribed parts of the infarct border is an unexpected and new finding. To the best of our knowledge, ischemia-associated alkalosis has only been described in chronic infarcts, [25][26][27][28] or during recirculation after transient ischemia, 16,29,30 but not in the acute ischemic penumbra. Glycolysis, protein synthesis, regulation of cell volume, or receptor affinities are all strongly pH dependent 2 and will, therefore, depend on the local acid-base status of the penumbra, possibly influencing its fate.…”

Local Interrelationships of Cerebral Oxygen Consumption and Glucose Utilization in Normal Subjects and in Ischemic Stroke Patients: A Positron Tomography Study

“…for anaerobic glycolysis; alternatively, tissue alka losis (Syrota et al , 1983), metabolic aberrations (Siesj6, 1978), or preferential lactate production by infiltrating macrophagic cells (Wise et al , 1983) of necrotic tissue may be involved.…”

Cerebral Vasocapacitance in Human Aging

“…compromised perfusion [1][2][3][4][5]. Normal perfusion has the potential of meeting nutrient demands over a wide dynamic range; with aging and vascular compromise, what appears to be an ability to increase extraction of oxygen is a natural endowment undoubtedly crucial to human development and survival.…”