Acute cerebral ischaemia: concurrent changes in cerebral blood flow, energy metabolites, pH, and lactate measured with hydrogen clearance and 31P and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. I. Methodology.

CBF has been measured with the hydrogen clearance technique in the two cerebral hemispheres of the gerbil under halothane anaesthesia. This has been correlated with changes in local pH, tissue lactate, and phosphorus energy metabolites measured in the same animals with 1H and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The NMR measurements were made with two surface coils, one on each hemisphere. This article describes the experimental details and shows that in acute unilateral or bilateral forebrain ischaemia metabolic changes can be monitored by NMR with no significant interhemispheric cross talk. The metabolic effects of reperfusion are also shown. The model allows the definition of the time course of the metabolic consequences of regional ischaemia and reperfusion in individual laboratory animals.