Change in glucose metabolism with time in hydrocephalic rats.

Energy metabolism was studied by measurements of the activity and isozyme pattern of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in rats with kaolin-induced hydrocephalus at 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the induction, as well as in normal, control rats. The total LDH activity in hydrocephalic rats was 1.5 times that in controls throughout the examination period. The main LDH isozyme in hydrocephalic rats was LDH 5(M4) at 2 weeks, but the isozyme pattern was the same as in controls at 4 and 6 weeks. These results suggest that the ratio of anaerobic to aerobic glycolysis increases in the acute stage of hydrocephalus and gradually lowers to become similar to that in controls with time.