Linear correlation between acetoacetate/beta-hydroxybutyrate in arterial blood and oxidized flavoprotein/reduced pyridine nucleotide in freeze-trapped human liver tissue.

A comparison of two methods of measuring liver mitochondrial redox state demonstrated that a linear correlation exists between acetoacetate/beta-hydroxybutyrate ratio in arterial blood (arterial ketone body ratio; AKBR) and oxidized flavoprotein/reduced pyridine nucleotide in human liver tissue (FP/PN) as measured by tissue fluorescence spectroscopy, such that [FP/PN] = 0.64 + 0.49 x [AKBR] (r = 0.84, P less than 0.001). This result supports the validity of AKBR as a method of measuring the hepatic mitochondrial redox state of pyridine nucleotide using arterial blood.     

Oscillations of redox states in synchronously dividing cultures of Acanthamoeba castellanii and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The redox state of the mitochondria of Acanthamoeba castellanii and Schizosaccharomyces pombe was assessed with a flying-spot fluorometer (Chance et al. 1978. Am. J. Physiol. 235:H 809) that provides excitation appropriate for oxidized flavoprotein or reduced pyridine nucleotide. Fluorescence signals could be resolved from the thin films of cultures that were only one cell deep. In both organisms anoxia was associated with an increased pyridine nucleotide and decreased flavoprotein fluorescence. The addition of mitochondrial uncoupling agents increased the flavoprotein fluorescence and the fluorometer was able to resolve uncoupler-sensitive and uncoupler-insensitive fractions of S. pombe cultures. In both synchronous and asynchronous cultures of A. castellanii and S. pombe the mitochondrial redox state oscillates with a period of 4.5 +/- 1.0 min. Oscillations with much longer period, of the order of an hour, are observed in synchronous cultures and these oscillations correlate with similar oscillations in respiratory rate, uncoupler sensitivity, and adenine nucleotide pool sizes. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that synchronous cultures of A. castellanii and S. pombe oscillate between the ADP-limited (state 4) and ADP-sufficient (state 3) respiratory states, i.e., exhibit in vivo respiratory control.     

Factors affecting the redox state of bovine epididymal spermatozoa.

The oxidation-reduction state of bovine epididymal spermatozoa was determined in vitro by fluorescence spectroscopy and by direct chemical analysis. Enhanced NADH fluorescence in sperm was observed with the onset of anaerobiosis in the sample cuvette. However, part of this increased fluorescence was temporary and a stable pyridine nucleotide fluorescence was not reached until 25 min after the onset of anaerobiosis. The transient was not paralleled by an equivalent increase in cellular NADH as measured by absorption spectroscopy. Hypotonic treatment of sperm, which removed the plasma membrane, liberated greater than 50% of the cellular NAD and that remaining was reduced by rotenone addition, indicating its mitochondrial location. Hypotonically treated sperm did not demonstrate a transient fluorescence above that due to the increases in NADH from anaerobiosis. Addition of pyruvate to anaerobic sperm resulted in a rapid decrease in fluorescence that corresponded to NADH oxidation coupled with the reduction of pyruvate to lactate. The duration of this oxidized state was dependent on the amount of pyruvate added. Analysis of cellular NAD under similar conditions confirmed this result. The pyridine nucleotides of hypotonically treated cells were also oxidized by pyruvate but were not reduced by added glucose as in untreated sperm. These results indicate that pyruvate reduction served to balance reducing equivalents and temporarily reoxidized the intracellular milieu of the anaerobic spermatozoon. The data also support the hypothesis that pyruvate and lactate can serve as reducing equivalent carriers between cytosol and mitochondria.     

The Respiratory Chain of Plant Mitochondria. II. Oxidative Phosphorylation in Skunk Cabbage Mitochondria

Mitochondria were prepared from the spadices of skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) whose respiratory rate with succinate and malate showed 15% to 30% sensitivity to cyanide inhibition, and which showed respiratory control by added ADP. The observed respiratory control ratios ranged from 1.1 to 1.4. The change in pH of the mitochondrial suspension was recorded simultaneously with oxygen uptake: alkalinization of the medium, expected for phosphorylation of ADP, coincided with the period of acceleration in oxygen uptake caused by addition of an ADP aliquot. The ADP/O ratios obtained were 1.3 for succinate and 1.9 for malate. In the presence of 0.3 mm cyanide, the ADP/O ratio for succinate was zero, while that for malate was 0.7. These results are consistent with the existence of an alternate oxidase which interacts with the flavoprotein and pyridine nucleotide components of the respiratory chain and which, in the presence of cyanide, allows the first phosphorylation site to function with an efficiency of about 70%. In the absence of respiratory inhibitors, the efficiency of each phosphorylation site is also about 70%. This result implies that diversion of reducing equivalents through the alternate oxidase, thereby bypassing the 2 phosphorylation sites associated with the cytochrome components of these mitochondria, occurs to a negligible extent during the oxidative phosphorylation of ADP or State 3.Addition of ADP or uncoupler to skunk cabbage mitochondria respiring in the controlled state or State 4, results in reduction of cytochrome c and the oxidation of the cytochromes b, ubiquinone and pyridine nucleotide. A site of interaction of ADP with the respiratory chain between cytochromes b and cytochrome c is thereby identified by means of the crossover theorem. Flavoprotein measured by fluorescence is also oxidized upon addition of ADP or uncoupler, but flavoprotein measured by optical absorbance changes becomes more reduced under these conditions. Depletion of the mitochondria by pretreatment with ADP and uncoupler prevents reduction of most of the fluorescent flavoprotein by succinate. These results indicate that skunk cabbage mitochondria contain both high and low potential flavo-proteins characterized by different fluorescence/absorbance ratios similar to those demonstrated to be part of the respiratory chain in mitochondria from animal tissues.     

Metabolic imaging of tumors using intrinsic and extrinsic fluorescent markers

One of the biochemical "hallmarks" of malignancy is enhanced tumor glycolysis, which is primary due to the overexpression of glucose transporters (GLUTs) and the increased activity of mitochondria-bound hexokinase in tumors. Easy methods for assessing glucose utilization in vitro and in vivo should find widespread application in biological and biomedical studies, as illustrated by the adoption of FDG PET imaging in medicine. We have recently synthesized a new NIR fluorescent pyropheophorbide conjugate of 2-deoxyglucose (2DG), Pyro-2DG, as a GLUT-targeted photosensitizer. In this study, we have evaluated the in vivo uptake of Pyro-2DG and found that Pyro-2DG selectively accumulated in two tumor models, 9L glioma in the rat and c-MYC-induced mammary tumor in the mouse, compared to surrounding normal muscle tissues at a ratio of about 10:1. By simultaneously performing redox ratio and fluorescence imaging, a high degree of correlation between the PN/(Fp+PN) redox ratio, where PN denotes reduced pyridine nucleotides (NADH) and Fp denotes oxidized flavoproteins, and the Pyro-2DG uptake was found in both murine tumor models, indicating that Pyro-2DG could serve as an extrinsic NIR fluorescent metabolic index for the tumors. The fact that only a low level of correlation was observed between the redox ratio and the uptake of Pyro-acid (the free fluorophore without the 2-deoxyglucose moiety) supports the hypothesis that Pyro-2DG is an index of the mitochondrial status (extent of PN reduction) of a tumor.     

Adrenodoxin reductase-adrenodexin complex.

Adrenodoxin reductase and adrenodoxin have been shown (Chu, J.-W., and Kimura, T. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248, 5183-5187) to form a low dissociation constant, 1:1 complex when both proteins are in the oxidized form. We have found that when adrenodoxin: adrenodoxin reductase ratios are varied by increasing the adrenodoxin concentration, with adrenodoxin reductase held constant, an increasing rate of cytochrome c reduction, with NADPH as reductant, is seen up to a ratio of 1:1, indicating that cytochrome c reduction occurs via the protein-protein complex. Spectra observed during titration of this protein-protein complex with NADH were resolved into components by the linear programming method, using a computer program written in Fortran IV. Analysis of the data has shown that the flavoprotein is reduced prior to the iron sulfur protein, and that the midpoint oxidation-reduction potentials (pH 7.5) of the two proteins are -295 and -331 mV, respectively, when both are present in the complex. Complex formation does not alter the potential of adrenodoxin reductase, but changes that of adrenodoxin by -40 mV. Equilibrium constants derived from potential measurements show that the strength of the protein-protein interaction in the complex is unaltered by reduction of adrenodoxin reductase, but is decreased by about 1 kcal due to reduction of adrenodoxin. The low dissociation constants for both oxidized reduced forms of the adrenodoxin reductase-adrenodoxin complex indicate that the complex must remain associated throughout its catalytic cycle. Titration of the adrenodoxin reductase-adrenodoxin complex with the physiologic reductant, NADPH, was followed by EPR and visible spectra, and yielded an order of reduction of the components identical with that seen when NADH was used as reductant. Reduction of the protein-protein complex with NADPH yielded a ternary complex between NADP+, flavoprotein, and iron sulfur protein, with the two electrons located in a "charge transfer" complex between flavoprotein and pyridine nucleotide.     

Regulated release of Ca2+ from respiring mitochondria by Ca2+/2H+ antiport.

Simultaneous measurements of oxygen consumption and transmembrane transport of Ca2+, H+, and phosphate show that the efflux of Ca2+ from respiring tightly coupled rat liver mitochondria takes place by an electroneutral Ca2+/2H+ antiport process that is ruthenium red-insensitive and that is regulated by the oxidation-reduction state of the mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides. When mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides are kept in a reduced steady state, the efflux of Ca2+ is inhibited; when they are in an oxidized state, Ca2+ efflux is activated. These processes were demonstrated by allowing phosphate-depleted mitochondria respiring on succinate in the presence of rotenone to take up Ca2+ from the medium. Upon subsequent addition of ruthenium red to block Ca2+ transport via the electrophoretic influx pathway, and acetoacetate, to bring mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides into the oxidized state, Ca2+ efflux and H+ influx ensued. The observed H+ influx/Ca2+ efflux ratio was close to the value 2.0 predicted for the operation of an electrically neutral Ca2+/2H+ antiport process.     

The Respiratory Chain of Plant Mitochondria: XII. Some Aspects of the Energy-linked Reverse Electron Transport from the Cytochromes c to the Cytochromes b in Mung Bean Mitochondria

The cytochromes c of mung bean (Phaseolus aureus) mitochondria become reduced when sulfide, a cytochrome oxidase inhibitor free from uncoupling side effects, is added to the aerobic mitochondrial suspension in the absence of added substrate. The cytochromes b remain largely oxidized. Subsequent addition of ATP results in partial oxidation of the cytochromes c and partial reduction of the cytochromes b due to ATP-driven reverse electron transport through the second site of energy conservation, or coupling site, of the respiratory chain. Cytochrome a is also oxidized under these conditions, but there is no concomitant reduction of the flavoprotein components, of ubiquinone, or of endogenous pyridine nucleotide. The reaction is abolished by oligomycin. The reducing equivalents transported from the cytochromes c and a in ATP-driven reverse electron transport are about 2-fold greater than those which appear in the cytochromes b. It is suggested that the equivalents not accounted for are present in a coupling site enzyme at the second site of energy conservation which interacts with the respiratory chain carriers by means of the dithiol-disulfide couple; this couple would not show absorbance changes with redox state over the wavelength range examined. With succinate present, reverse electron transport can be demonstrated at both coupling sites in both the aerobic steady state and in anaerobiosis. ATP-driven reverse electron transport in anaerobiosis maintains cytochrome a 30% oxidized while endogenous pyridine nucleotide is 50% reduced.     

Evaluation of a procedure for the simultaneous determination of oxidized and reduced pyridine nucleotides and adenylates in organic phenol extracts from mitochondria.

An extraction procedure using mixtures of phenol, chloroform, and isoamyl alcohol originally applied to quench mitochondria for determining adenylates proved suitable also for the quantification of reduced and oxidized pyridine nucleotides yielding recoveries of more than 90%. In combination with HPLC, this approach allows the simultaneous determination of NAD+, NADP+, NADH, and NADPH as well as of adenylates within one extract. A comparison of this extraction method with fluorimetric measurements of pyridine nucleotide reduction in intact mitochondria revealed that about 30% of the fluorescence signal in the resting state of liver mitochondria is caused by NADPH.     

In vivo measurement of pyridine nucleotide fluorescence from cat brain cortex.

A modification of the methods is described which makes it possible to measure pyridine nucleotide fluorescence from the brain cortex in vivo without interference from movement and hemodynamic artifacts. Movement artifacts were eliminated by the use of a window technique. Fluorescence changes due to changes in hemoglobin oxygenation have been eliminated by measuring fluorescence at an isobestic wavelength of the hemoglobin-oxyhemoglobin reaction. The interference due to changes in red blood cell concentration has been studied by simultaneous measurements of fluorescence and ultraviolet reflection. Hemodilution revealed a linear relationship between the fluorescence from the pyridine nucleotide and reflected ultraviolet light. The ratio between the light absorption changes was approximately unity under the particular optical geometry employed in this study. This method has been used to measure fluorescence changes produced by nitrogen anoxia. The technique is discussed in relation to previous methods and the effects of anoxia are compared to previous findings.     

The Respiratory Chain of Plant Mitochondria: VI. Flavoprotein Components of the Respiratory Chain of Mung Bean Mitochondria

Redox changes of the flavoproteins of mung bean (Phaseolus aureus) mitochondria were measured by differential absorbance at 468 to 493 nanometers and by fluorescence emission above 500 nanometers excited at 436 nanometers. Four flavoproteins are distinguishable by the ratio of their fluorescence to absorbance changes, and by their requirement, or lack of it, for energy-linked reverse electron transport for reduction by succinate. Two flavoproteins are reduced by succinate in fully depleted mitochondria which lack the capacity for reverse electron transport. These are designated Fp_ha and Fp_hf and have fluorescence to absorbance ratios of 0 and 1.4, respectively. The two flavoproteins have the same half-time for oxidation, but Fp_hf is reduced more slowly than Fp_ha by substrate in the presence of cyanide. One flavoprotein with a fluorescence to absorbance ratio of 0 is not reduced by succinate in anaerobic, fully depleted mitochondria, but is rapidly reduced on subsequent addition of malate; it is designated Fp_m. The fourth distinguishable flavoprotein component is reducible by succinate in an energy-linked reaction, even in partially depleted mitochondria. This component has a fluorescence to absorbance ratio of 3.8 and is designated Fp_1f. In addition to these four flavoproteins reducible by substrates, there is a highly fluorescent flavin-containing component in or associated with these mitochondria, which is rapidly reduced by dithionite.     

Fluorometric measurement of pyridine nucleotide reduction in the giant axon of the squid

By monitoring the fluorescence of the isolated giant axon of the squid Loligo pealei, it was possible to follow changes in its oxidation-reduction state as caused by the action of anoxia, cyanide, Amytal, and azide. The response to oxygen depletion was very rapid, the NAD within the axon being 90% reduced within 1–2 min. Cyanide and Amytal gave essentially similar results, although somewhat longer periods of time elapsed during their onset and washout periods. The extent of NAD reduction was essentially the same under conditions of anoxia and treatment with cyanide and Amytal. Azide was less effective in this respect, and at comparatively high levels of concentration (25–50 mM) gave values of 40% or less of the reduction observed with the other inhibitors. The application of ouabain and strophanthidin gave no observable NAD reduction. Variations in the time required to consume given quantities of dissolved oxygen before and after stimulation indicated an increase of 10–20% in oxygen uptake rate associated with activity, although this figure appeared to be a function of the surface-to-volume ratio of the axon. A biochemical analysis of axoplasm for oxidized and reduced pyridine nucleotide was made. Fluorometric examination of centrifuged axoplasm indicated that the NAD-NADH was largely confined to the mitochondria of the axon.     

Direct evidence for expression of type II flavoprotein subunit in human complex II (succinate-ubiquinone reductase)

Succinate-ubiquinone reductase (complex II) is an important enzyme complex in aerobic respiration and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. We recently identified two distinct cDNAs for the human flavoprotein subunit (Fp) from a single individual and demonstrated mRNAs of these two isoforms, Type I Fp and Type II Fp, in skeletal muscle, liver, brain, heart, and kidney. Type I Fp was expressed at higher levels than Type II Fp in all cases. In the present study, the biochemical properties of Type II Fp-containing complex II in Raji cells predominantly expressing Type II Fp were investigated. Complex II having Type II Fp was separated from that having Type I Fp by isoelectric focusing in the presence of sucrose monolaurate. Together with the fact that succinate-ubiquinone reductase activity of mitochondria prepared from Raji cell was almost identical to that from human liver, these results clearly indicate the presence of two distinct isoforms of active complex II in human mitochondria.     

Calcium-dependent activation of mitochondrial metabolism in mammalian cells

Endogenous fluorophores provide a simple, but elegant means to investigate the relationship between agonist-evoked Ca2+ signals and the activation of mitochondrial metabolism. In this article, we discuss the methods and strategies to measure cellular pyridine nucleotide and flavoprotein fluorescence alone or in combination with Ca2+-sensitive indicators. These methods were developed using primary cultured hepatocytes and neurons, which contain relatively high levels of endogenous fluorophores and robust metabolic responses. Nevertheless, these methods are amendable to a wide variety of primary cell types and cell lines that maintain active mitochondrial metabolism.     

Expression and characterization of a redox-sensing green fluorescent protein (reduction-oxidation-sensitive green fluorescent protein) in Arabidopsis

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was transformed with a redox-sensing green fluorescent protein (reduction-oxidation-sensitive green fluorescent protein [roGFP]), with expression targeted to either the cytoplasm or to the mitochondria. Both the mitochondrial and cytosolic forms are oxidation-reduction sensitive, as indicated by a change in the ratio of 510 nm light (green light) emitted following alternating illumination with 410 and 474 nm light. The 410/474 fluorescence ratio is related to the redox potential (in millivolts) of the organelle, cell, or tissue. Both forms of roGFP can be reduced with dithiothreitol and oxidized with hydrogen peroxide. The average resting redox potentials for roots are -318 mV for the cytoplasm and -362 mV for the mitochondria. The elongation zone of the Arabidopsis root has a more oxidized redox status than either the root cap or meristem. Mitochondria are much better than the cytoplasm, as a whole, at buffering changes in redox. The data show that roGFP is redox sensitive in plant cells and that this sensor makes it possible to monitor, in real time, dynamic changes in redox in vivo.     

Metabolic control reactions of the intact urinary bladder of the toad

Metabolic control reactions have been studied in the intact toad bladder by means of fluorescence spectrophotometric measurement of reduced pyridine nucleotide and by measurement of respiration with the platinum electrode. substrates such as pyruvate and succinate lead to prompt increases in reduction level of pyridine nucleotide with only slight acceleration of respiration. major metabolic control is exerted by adp, which depletes the intact bladder of reduced pyridine nucleotide and accelerates respiration. respiratory control ratios, as for isolated mitochondria, depend upon the substrate being metabolized. a significant fraction of added adp appears to gain entry into the intact toad bladder and is converted to atp, anaerobiosis and amobarbital lead to increased levels of reduction of pyridine nucleotide. the spectroscopic and metabolic properties of the reduced pyridine nucleotide being studied identify it with that fraction of dpnh which is bound at one of the energy conservation sites linking phosphorylation reactions with electron transfer.     

Change of subunit composition of mitochondrial complex II (succinate-ubiquinone reductase/quinol-fumarate reductase) in Ascaris suum during the migration in the experimental host

The mitochondrial metabolic pathway of the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum changes dramatically during its life cycle, to adapt to changes in the environmental oxygen concentration. We previously showed that A. suum mitochondria express stage-specific isoforms of complex II (succinate-ubiquinone reductase: SQR/quinol-fumarate reductase: QFR). The flavoprotein (Fp) and small subunit of cytochrome b (CybS) in adult complex II differ from those of infective third stage larval (L3) complex II. However, there is no difference in the iron-sulfur cluster (Ip) or the large subunit of cytochrome b (CybL) between adult and L3 isoforms of complex II. In the present study, to clarify the changes that occur in the respiratory chain of A. suum larvae during their migration in the host, we examined enzymatic activity, quinone content and complex II subunit composition in mitochondria of lung stage L3 (LL3) A. suum larvae. LL3 mitochondria showed higher QFR activity ( approximately 160 nmol/min/mg) than mitochondria of A. suum at other stages (L3: approximately 80 nmol/min/mg; adult: approximately 70 nmol/min/mg). Ubiquinone content in LL3 mitochondria was more abundant than rhodoquinone ( approximately 1.8 nmol/mg versus approximately 0.9 nmol/mg). Interestingly, the results of two-dimensional bule-native/sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses showed that LL3 mitochondria contained larval Fp (Fp(L)) and adult Fp (Fp(A)) at a ratio of 1:0.56, and that most LL3 CybS subunits were of the adult form (CybS(A)). This clearly indicates that the rearrangement of complex II begins with a change in the isoform of the anchor CybS subunit, followed by a similar change in the Fp subunit.     

Quantitative and mechanistic aspects of the hydroperoxide-induced release of Ca2+ from rat liver mitochondria

We have previously demonstrated in rat liver mitochondria a hydroperoxide-induced hydrolysis of pyridine nucleotides and release of Ca2+ [L?tscher, H. R., Winterhalter, K. H., Carafoli, E. & Richter, C. (1979) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 76, 4340-4344, and L?tscher, H. R., Winterhalter, K. H., Carafoli, E. & Richter, C. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 9325-9330]. Here we investigate pyridine nucleotide hydrolysis and Ca2+ release under conditions of minimized Ca2+ cycling and with smaller Ca2+ loads. The extent of pyridine nucleotide hydrolysis, measured by pyridine-nucleotide-derived nicotinamide release from intact mitochondria, and the Ca2+ release rate show a very similar sigmoidal dependence on the mitochondrial Ca2+ load. The hydrolysis of oxidized pyridine nucleotides is limited under non-cycling conditions. Whereas pyridine nucleotide hydrolysis as measured by nicotinamide release is extensive, net loss of mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides is observed only at relatively high Ca2+ loads. Our results indicate the ability of mitochondria to resynthesize pyridine nucleotides after hydrolysis. Neither a decrease of reduced, nor an increase of oxidized, mitochondrial glutathione favour Ca2+ release. From these and previous findings it is concluded that the hydroperoxide-induced Ca2+ release is triggered by a factor which is distal to the oxidation of mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides. Ca2+ release is stimulated when the movement of protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane is facilitated, giving evidence for the operation of the hydroperoxide-induced release pathway as a Ca2+/H+ antiport.     

Regulation of cyclosporin A sensitive mitochondrial permeability transition by the redox state of pyridine nucleotides

The mechanisms involved in the induction of cyclosporine A sensitive mitochondrial swelling by oxidative stress were investigated in isolated guinea pig liver mitochondria. The aim of our study was to investigate, if swelling is inevitably associated with the oxidation of pyridine nucleotides, and if the oxidized pyridine nucleotides have to be hydrolysed for the induction of mitochondrial swelling. Quantitative measurement of oxidized pyridine nucleotides was performed with HPLC. Mitochondrial swelling was recorded by monitoring the decrease in light scattering of the mitochondrial suspension. Reduction and oxidation of pyridine nucleotides were followed by monitoring the changes of the autofluorescence signal of reduced pyridine nucleotides. Qualitative measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential was performed with the fluorescence indicator rhodamine 123. Neither t-butyl hydroperoxide nor the dissipation of the mitochondrial inner membrane potential with FCCP (carbonyl cyanide-p-trifluoromethoxyphenyl hydrazone) induced the opening of the membrane permeability transition pore, unless an extensive oxidation of mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides took place. Mitochondrial swelling induced by our experimental conditions was always sensitive to cyclosporine A and accompanied by a cyclosporine A sensitive release of inner mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides without pyridine nucleotide hydrolysis. Not the cycling of calcium across the mitochondrial inner membrane but the accumulation of calcium inside the mitochondria was a prerequisite for mitochondrial swelling. The mitochondrial membrane permeability transition is neither caused nor accompanied by the hydrolysis of mitochondrial pyridine nucleotides.     

Comparison of dark-field and bright-field incident illumination for in vivo measurements of reduced pyridine nucleotides

Bright-field and dark-field illumination techniques for in vivo measurements of reduced pyridine nucleotide fluorescence were compared in 15 rats during periods of normocapnia, hypocapnia, hypercapnia, and anoxia. Parameters investigated included fluorescence, cortical reflectance, cortical blood flow, and electroencephalograms. In normal brain, with preserved autoregulation, reduced pyridine nucleotide fluorescence was constant through a wide range in P_a(CO₂), cortical blood flow, and cerebral blood volume in animals studied using vertical illumination (bright-field) techniques. There was a marked increase in reduced pyridine nucleotide fluorescence at death from anoxia. Artifacts were reduced by monochromators for excitation, emission, and reflected light; low-intensity vertical excitation energy and high-sensitivity recording instrumentation; and a small avascular (123 μm) field. Potential sources of error include photodecomposition, hemoglobin interference from absorption and reflectance, and light scattering. Vertical excitation techniques using a small field appeared to give more reliable and reproducible results than circumferential techniques using a larger field of observation.