REGIONAL LEVELS OF GLUCOSE, AMINO ACIDS, HIGH ENERGY PHOSPHATES, AND CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDES IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DURING HYPOGLYCEMIC STUPOR AND BEHAVIORAL RECOVERY1

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Abstract
The effects of insulin-induced hypoglycemic stupor and subsequent treatment with glucose on mouse cerebral cortical, cerebellar and brain stem levels of glucose, glycogen, ATP, phosphocreatine, glutamate, aspartate and GABA and on cerebral cortical and cerebellar levels of cyclic[c]AMP and cGMP were measured. Hypoglycemia decreased glucose, glycogen and glutamate levels and had no effect on ATP levels in all 3 regions of brain. GABA levels were decreased only in cerebellum. Aspartate levels rose in cerebral cortex and brain stem, and creatine phosphate increased in cerebral cortex and cerebellum. In the hypoglycemic stuporous animals, cGMP levels were elevated in cerebral cortex and depressed in cerebellum whereas cAMP levels were unchanged from control values. I.v. administration of 2.5-3.5 mmol/kg of glucose to the hypoglycemic stuporous animals produced recovery of near normal neurological function within 45 s. Only brain glucose and aspartate levels returned to normal prior to behavioral recovery. Of the several substances examined in this study, apparently only glucose and perhaps aspartate have important roles in the biochemical mechanisms producing neurological abnormalities in hypoglycemic animals.