A role for glucose in hypothermic hamsters.

Hamsters undergo hypothermia when exposed to a mixture of 80% helium and 20% oxygen at low ambient temperatures. The hypothermic hamster, rectal temperature (Tre) 7 degrees C, becomes hypoglycemic, and reversal of hypoglycemia is effected with glucose infusion. Hypothermic hamsters at Tre 7 degrees C showed a fivefold increase in survival times from 20 to 100.5 h when infused with glucose which maintained a blood level at about 45 mg/100 ml. A potential role for osmotic effects of the infusion was tested and eliminated. There was no improvement in survival of 3-O-methylglucose or dextran 40-infused animals. The fact that death eventually occurs even in the glucose-infused animal after about 4 days and that VO2 undergoes a slow decrement in that period suggests that hypothermic survival is not wholly substrate limited. Radioactive tracer, [U-14C]glucose, showed that localization of the 14C, was greatest in brain tissue and diaphragm, intermediate in heart and kidney, and lowest in skeletal muscle and liver. The significance of the label at sites important to respiration and circulation was presented.