Ischaemia and tissue pyruvate dehydrogenase activities in the rat: a comparison of the effects of cervical dislocation and pentobarbital anaesthesia.

The work defined the relationship between [long-chain acylcarnitine] and PDHa activities in hearts, kidneys and livers of rats sampled after cervical dislocation or pentobarbital anaesthesia. Although tissue [long-chain acylcarnitine] correlated with fatty acid availability or its mitochondrial oxidation in anaesthetized rats, this was not the case for hearts or kidneys of rats sampled after cervical dislocation. Cardiac [long-chain acylcarnitine] and PDHa activities were higher in rats killed by cervical dislocation. Metabolite changes within the hearts were consistent with tissue hypoxia and the effects of cervical dislocation were mimicked in hearts of pentobarbital-anaesthetized rats by 20s ischaemia. Renal and hepatic PDHa activities were unaffected by this short period of ischaemia. The susceptibility of cardiac PDHa to hypoxia or ischaemia may explain the variability in activities often observed within or between laboratories.