Contributions to the study of brain metabolism

Abstract

WE have endeavoured to investigate the part played by inorganic phosphate in the production of lactic acid from carbohydrate by surviving brain tissues. Winterstein and Hecker [1923] have studied the phosphorus metabolism of the isolated spinal cord of the frog, and Gerard and Wallen [1929] have in- vestigated that of peripheral nerve, both amphibian and mammalian. While, however, previous work had demonstrated the ready production of lactic acid by brain tissues, both in vitro [Warburg, Posener and Negelein, 1924] and in vivo [Holmes and Holmes, 1925, 1926, 1927], we believe that no serious attempt has previously been made to study the part played by phos- phate in the process. It was natural to suppose that it would be a prominent one and would follow, more or less closely, the lines already established by Harden [1923], Embden [1926], Meyerhof [1926, 1] and many other workers, for the metabolism of yeast and of striped muscle.