Relations between post-mortem alterations and glycolytic metabolism in the brain

Abstract

Certain post-mortem alterations of brain tissue result from the continuation of anaerobic glycolysis in the presence of abolished tissue oxidation. Experimental incubation of cerebellar tissue from rats in glucose or in glucose-6-phosphate in the presence of cyanide resulted in klasmatodendrosis of astrocytes and marked edematous changes, particularly in the neuroglia of the Purkinje layer. The presence of glycolysis was indicated by a drop in pH of the incubation medium. The tissue changes were indistinguishable from post-mortem alterations in human material. Blocking of glycolysis during the incubation eliminated the experimental tissue changes. The distribution of post-mortem changes depended on the normal cytochemical organization of a given region; regions which normally showed large aggregations of neuroglia cells with weak activity of oxidative enzymes showed strongest glycolytic tissue alterations. There was exidently no sharp border line between normal tissue glycolysis and post-mortem alterations.