Effects of moderate hypothermia on extracellular lactic acid and amino acids after severe compression injury of rat spinal cord

We evaluated in rats, the effect of moderate hypothermia (30-31 degrees C) on extracellular levels of amino acids, with special emphasis on the excitatory amino acids (EAAs) glutamate and aspartate, lactate and pyruvate, after severe spinal cord compression. A laminectomy of Th-7 and Th-8 was made. A probe was inserted in a dorsal horn and microdialysis was performed for 1.5 h before and 4 h after applying se vere compression for 5 min. Dialysate samples were collected at intervals of 10 min and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. In normothermic (37.5 degrees C) animals there was a several-fold rise of glutamate that peaked in the first 10 min fraction after trauma. Hypothermic animals showed a similar increase after trauma, which was statistically significant until 20 min after injury. The level of glutamate was significantly higher in hypothermic animals from 20 to 70 min after injury, compared with normothermic animals. Aspartate also showed a marked increase following injury. The peak concentration was similar for both groups, whereas recovery was delayed in hypothermic animals. There was no significant difference between the normothermic and hypothermic animals for arginine, taurine, alanine, glutamine, histadine, glycine, threonine, tyrosine, and asparagine. No significant effect of hypothermia on lactate or lactate/pyruvate was noted. However, the mean level of lactate tended to be lower and recovery was quicker in hypothermic animals. The results of the present study suggest that moderate hypothermia does not attenuate extracellular accumulation of EAAs or markedly improve energy metabolism in our model. Instead, our findings raise the possibility that moderate hypothermia prolongs the duration of glutamate receptor overactivation. Since hypothermia effectively attenuates glutamate release in CNS and spinal cord ischemia models our results suggest different mechanisms of extracellular accumulation of EAAs in ischemia and trauma.