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Comparative rates of local cerebral glucose utilization in the visual system of conscious albino and pigmented rats

From the Laboratory of Cerebral Metabolism, National Institute of Mental Health, United States Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services.

We measured local cerebral glucose utilization by means of the [¹⁴C]deoxyglucose technique in normal, conscious albino Sprague-Dawley and pigmented Norway rats in the ambient light of the laboratory. There were no differences between the two strains in any structures except those of the visual system. The rates of glucose utilization in all components of the visual system were lower in the albino than in the pigmented rats. The affected structures and percent differences were as follows: visual cortex (17%); stratum griseum superficialis (28%), stratum optirum (17%), and stratum lemnisci (10%) of the superior colliculus; dorsal nucleus (34%) and ventral nucleus (33%) of the lateral geniculate body; and posterolateral thalamus (10%). All differences were statistically significant (p <0.051 except those in the stratum lemnisci and posterolateral thalamus. These results indicate that the known aberrant neurophysiologic function of the visual system of the albino rat is paralleled by alterations in metabolic activity of its component structures.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Sokoloff, Chief, Laboratory of Cerebral Metabolism, National Institute of Mental Health, Building 36, Room 1A-27, Bethesda, MD 20205.

A preliminary report of portions of this work was presented at the thirtieth annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Los Angeles, CA, April 1978.

Accepted for publication March 10, 1980.