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Metabolic Alterations in Brain Autopsies: Proton NMR Identification of Free Glycerol
Author(s) -
Michaelis Thomas,
Helms Gunther,
Frahm Jens
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
nmr in biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.278
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1099-1492
pISSN - 0952-3480
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1492(199605)9:3<121::aid-nbm409>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - glutamine , choline , creatine , chemistry , glycerol , in vivo , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , proton nmr , glutamate receptor , proton , taurine , ammonium , biochemistry , stereochemistry , biology , amino acid , organic chemistry , physics , receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , quantum mechanics
Metabolic alterations in bovine brain homogenate were examined as a function of post mortem interval (PMI) using high‐resolution proton NMR spectroscopy. In particular, while lactate, glutamate, glutamine, creatine and inositols as well as the total concentration of trimethyl‐ammonium compounds remained constant, prominent changes due to the hydrolysis of N ‐acetylaspartate to acetate and aspartate as well as the decomposition of glycerophosphocholine into free choline and glycerol correlated linearly with the duration of PMI (3–195 h). The spectroscopic identification of the latter process was confirmed by proton NMR studies of model solutions as well as of extracts of mammalian brain showing high levels of free glycerol. Since the methylene resonances of glycerol overlap with the proton resonances of myo ‐inositol, care should be taken in the interpretation of both in vitro and in vivo brain spectra.