title: The contribution of the blood glutamate scavenging activity of pyruvate to its neuroprotective properties in a rat model of closed head injury.
abstract: The removal of excess glutamate from brain fluids after acute insults such as closed head injury (CHI) and stroke is expected to prevent excitotoxicity and the ensuing long lasting neurological deficits. Since blood glutamate scavenging accelerates the removal of excess glutamate from brain into blood and causes neuroprotection, we have evaluated here whether the neuroprotective properties of pyruvate could be partly accounted to its blood glutamate scavenging activity. The neurological outcome of rats after CHI improved significantly when treated with intravenous pyruvate (0.9 mmoles/100 g) but not with pyruvate administered together with glutamate. Pyruvate, at 5 micromole/100 g rat was neither protective not able to decrease blood glutamate but displayed the latter two properties when combined with 60 microg/100 g of glutamate-pyruvate transaminase. Since the neurological recovery from CHI was correlated with the decrease of blood glutamate levels, we conclude that pyruvate blood glutamate scavenging activity contributes to the spectrum of its neuroprotective mechanisms.
authors: Division of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Zlotnik
authors: Boris
authors: B
authors: Gurevich
authors: Evgenia
authors: E
authors: Cherniavsky
authors: Sergei
authors: S
authors: Tkachov
authors: Angela
authors: A
authors: Matuzani-Ruban
authors: Avner
authors: A
authors: Leon
authors: Yoram
authors: Y
authors: Shapira
authors: Vivian I
authors: VI
authors: Teichberg
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*; D019289:Pyruvic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D019289:Pyruvic Acid; D000410:Alanine Transaminase