Remarkable increase in 14C-acetate uptake in an epilepsy model rat brain induced by lithium-pilocarpine

The present study demonstrates changes in rat brain glial metabolism during the acute phase of epilepsy. Status epilepticus (SE) was induced using the lithium-pilocarpine model. Glial metabolism was measured with 14C-acetate. Local cerebral blood flow and glucose metabolism were also measured using 14C-N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine (IMP) and 14C-2-deoxyglucose (2DG), respectively. At the initiation of the seizure, 14C-acetate uptake did not change significantly. However, a marked increase was observed 2 h after the pilocarpine injection in all brain regions studied. The increase of brain uptake was transient, and the maximum enhancement was seen at 2 h after the pilocarpine injection. The increase of 14C-acetate uptake was almost to the same degree in all regions, whereas 14C-IMP and 14C-2DG uptakes showed a heterogeneous increase. In the case of 14C-IMP, the highest increase was observed in the thalamus (280%), and a moderate increase (120 to 150%) was seen in the orbital cortex, cingulate cortex and pyriform cortex. 14C-2DG uptake increased by 130 to 240% in most regions of the brain, however, an increase of only 40 and 20% was observed in the cerebellum and pons-medulla, respectively. These results demonstrated that glial energy metabolism was markedly enhanced during a prolonged seizure. To our knowledge, this study is the first observation showing large and widespread glial metabolic increases in the rat brain during status epilepticus.