Inhibition of glucose phosphorylation in rat brain by thiopental.

The purpose of the present investigation was to shed some light on the suppression of the glycolytic pathway by anesthetics. The antimetabolite 6-aminonicotinamide (6-AN) was used to discriminate between the key enzymes hexokinase and phosphofructokinase which are suggested to be involved in the effect of anesthetics on glycolysis. The cerebral energy metabolism was studied in the isolated perfused rat brain after the addition of thiopental (0.15 mM) to the perfusion medium, after the administration of 6-AN (35mg/kg i.p.) to the intact animals 15 h before perfusion was started, as well as in brain preparations treated in the same manner with both 6-AN and thiopental. After a perfusion period of 30 min brain levels of the following substrates and metabolites were determined: phosphocreatine, ATP, ADP, AMP, glycogen, glucose, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, pyruvate, lactate, alpha-ketoglutarate, blutamate, ammonia, and 6-phosphogluconate. The metabolic alterations in the isolated rat brain caused by 6-AN or thiopental were such as reported in the literature. When the isolated brains of the 6-AN pretreated rats were perfused with thiopental we found as the most interesting result that the concentration of glucose 6-phosphate was reduced in comparison to that in brains only treated with 6-AN but still significantly higher than that in controls. The glucose concentration was significantly elevated and the lactate concentration decreased considerably. The effect of thiopental on cerebral glycolysis was interpreted as an inhibition of hexokinase activity.