Pain & Central Nervous System Week via NewsEdge :

2008 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- A new study, 'Peripheral glucose metabolism is altered by epileptic seizures,' is now available (see also Seizure Animal Studies). "The aim of the present study was to investigate the status of jejunal absorption and peripheral metabolism of glucose in Wistar Audiogenic Rats (WAR), a genetic model of epilepsy, after seizures induced by intensive sound exposure. The jejunal loop of rats was isolated and infused (0.5 mL min(-1)) with Tyrode solution containing twice the normal concentrations of glucose, sodium, and potassium," scientists writing in the journal Metabolic Brain Disease report.

"Samples were taken at 5 or 10-min intervals over a 40-min period. At the end of the experiment, samples of liver and gastrocnemius muscle were taken to measure the levels of glycogen, glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate and glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4). Hepatic glucose-6-phosphate increased in WAR submitted to audiogenic seizure (21.90 ±3.08) as compared to non-susceptible Wistar rats (8.12 ±0.87) and to WAR not submitted to audiogenic stimulation (5.17 ±0.97). In addition, an increase in hepatic fructose-6-phosphate, an intermediate metabolite of the glycolytic pathway, was observed in WAR submitted to audiogenic seizure (5.98 ±0.99) compared to non-susceptible Wistar rats (2.38 ±0.53). According to the present results, jejunal absorption of glucose was not changed by seizures. However, generalized tonic-clonic seizures produced by sound stimulation resulted in a decrease in muscle glycogen content," wrote F.K. Pereira and colleagues, University Federal of Minas Gerais.

The researchers concluded: "In addition, our results demonstrated that the concentration of GLUT4 in the gastrocnemius muscle of WAR was 1.6-fold higher than that observed in resistant rats and that the audiogenic stimulus led to decreased concentration of this receptor in the muscle of WAR animals."

Pereira and colleagues published their study in Metabolic Brain Disease (Peripheral glucose metabolism is altered by epileptic seizures. Metabolic Brain Disease, 2008;23(1):105-14).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting F.K. Pereira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofisica, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Avenida Antonio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The publisher of the journal Metabolic Brain Disease can be contacted at: Kluwer Academic, Plenum Publ, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013, USA.

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