[Neuronal and astrocytic plasticity: metabolic aspects].

It is well known that brain function is critically dependent upon energy metabolism and that the brain has a relatively high metabolic rate. Experiments using intact brain preparations do not provide information about metabolism in the different cell types that constitute brain tissue. Progress in primary culture techniques has facilitated biochemical investigations and analysis of the metabolic pathways prevailing in specific cerebral cell types. We found that, in the presence of pyruvate or succinate as the substrate, oxygen consumption by neurons grown in culture was always higher than that by glial cells. The relatively low values of hexokinase, malate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase activities observed in glial cells and, in contrast, the high levels of lactate dehydrogenase and enolase activities may be the result of a less aerobic metabolism prevailing in this type of brain cell, compared to neurons. On the other hand, the predominance of the aerobic, lactate dehydrogenase, isoenzymatic form in neurons can be associated with a more aerobic metabolism in this type of cell. In the case of severe hypoxia, we observed that astrocytes were the most damaged cells. An increased lactate dehydrogenase level with a modification of its isoenzymatic profile and a decreased glutamine synthetase activity under hypoxic conditions indicated severe derangement of important biochemical functions within the astrocytes. By antagonizing some of these changes, almitrine and raubasine (both present in Duxil) seem to exert some protective effect. One may consider that, among the different cell types present in brain tissue, astroglial cells may represent a target particularly sensitive to hypoxia-induced injury.