The Local Metabolic Effects of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation in the Brain and the Spinal Cord of the Rats during Enflurane Anesthesia

The effects of electrical stimulation (5 mA, 0.5msec., 10Hz) of the sciatic nerve on local rates of glucose utilization in the brain and the spinal cord were studied in the 10 rats anesthetized with 2% enflurane, using autoradiographic 〔14C〕 deoxyglucose method. Animals were divided into two groups, one stimulated and the other sham. With stimulation glucose utilization in the ipsilateral superficial (dorsal one-third) and deep (ventral two-thirds) zones of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord increased by 163% and 69%, respectively as compared with the sham group. Glucose untilization in the hindlimb projection area in the contralatreral primary somatosensory cortex increased by 81%. The present results demonstrate that during enflurane anesthesia peripheral stimulation evokes the metabolic response in the restricted areas of the central nervous system.