X-Message-Number: 11943
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 08:49:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: could premortum salt loading be useful in cryonics?

Authors
  Heilig CW.  Stromski ME.  Blumenfeld JD.  Lee JP.  Gullans SR.
Institution
  Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
Title
  Characterization of the
  major brain osmolytes that
  accumulate in salt-loaded rats.
Source
  American Journal of Physiology.  257(6 Pt 2):F1108-16, 1989 Dec.
Abstract
  Previous studies demonstrated an accumulation of "idiogenic osmoles" in
  the brain with chronic salt loading. Amino
  acids are known to constitute a portion of these solutes,
  but the balance of the solutes has yet to
  be fully characterized. In the present study, 1H-nuclear
  magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and biochemical assays of rat
  brain were used to identify and quantify changes in organic
  solutes in two different animal models of hypernatremia: hypertonic salt
  loading and water deprivation. Five days of salt loading increased plasma
  sodium concentration (PNa) to 165 meq/l and 3 days of water deprivation
  increased PNa to 151 meq/l, compared with 141 meq/l in controls. Amino acids,
  methylamines, and polyols were all significantly higher in salt-loaded
  animals compared with controls. Specifically, higher contents of glutamine
  (+65%), glutamate (+27%), myo-inositol (+36%), phosphocreatine + creatine
  (PCr + Cr) (32%), glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC) (+75%), and choline (+114%)
  were observed. Sorbitol and betaine, osmolytes known to
  accumulate in the hypertonic inner medulla, were present in
  low amounts in the brain and were unchanged
  with salt loading. In contrast to the results with salt
  loading, no accumulation of brain organic solutes was
  detected after 3 days of water deprivation. Based on these
  findings, we propose that amino acids, methylamines, and polyols function as
  osmoregulatory solutes in the brains of
  salt-loaded rats in a manner similar to that observed in
  other biological systems, whereas 3 days of water
  deprivation is an insufficient stimulus for their
  accumulation.

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