Accumulation, elimination, release and metabolism of pipecolic acid in the mouse brain following intraventricular injection.

Following i.c.v. (intracerebral ventricular) injections of D,L-[3H]pipecolic acid (PA), it is reabsorbed from the ventricles and redistributed to various brain regions. The highest accumulation is found in three brain regions ipsilateral to the injection site, hippocampus, neocortex, striatum, and in the diencephalon. Following preloading in vivo, the radioactivity is released from hippocampus slices in the perfusion medium after depolarization induced by high K+. During perfusion with a Ca++ free medium containing EGTA, a significant reduction of release is observed. The radioactivity of D,L-[3H]PA in the brain shows a more rapid phase of decrease from 0 to 2 hours and a slower phase from 2 to 5 hours. At 5 hours, only 28% radioactivity, represented mainly by PA, is left in the brain. Kidney secretion represents the major route of elimination of the injected PA. The presence of alpha-aminoadipic acid both in brain and urine was observed. Probenecid (200 mg/kg) significantly increases the accumulation of i.c.v. injected D,L-[3H]PA in brain and kidney. The presence of a regional accumulation of PA in certain brain regions, its metabolism in brain, its enhanced retention following probenecid administration and its Ca++ dependent release following high K+ stimulation, all constitute indirect evidence for a neuronal localization of this brain endogenous aminoacid.