Effect of pentobarbital anesthesia on regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose during hyperbaric oxygenation in rat

Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) at different pressures and durations of exposure produces an increase in regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRgl) in conscious rats. Pentobarbital anesthesia is known to significantly reduce rCMRgl in rats during air breathing. To test if pentobarbital anesthesia is also effective in reducing HBO-induced increases in rCMRgl, the combined effect of pentobarbital anesthesia and HBO on rCMRgl was autoradiographically measured in 28 neuroanatomical structures. Two groups of rats (11 each) were chronically cannulated in one femoral artery and vein 3 days prior to the experiments. Thirty minutes before the rCMRgl measurements the rats were anesthetized with intravenous injection of 50 mg/kg pentobarbital and exposed to either 1-h air breathing at atmospheric pressure or oxygen at 2 atm absolute. No differences in rCMRgl between oxygen-exposed and air-exposed anesthetized rats were observed in 27 of the 28 neuroanatomical structures examined. The superior olivary nucleus was the only one of the 28 structures showing a significant reduction in rCMRgl following anesthesia and HBO. The possible factors involved in the elimination by anesthesia of the previously observed increases in rCMRgl in conscious rats exposed to HBO are discussed.