PITFALLS IN THE USE OF RAPID FREEZING FOR STOPPING BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD METABOLISM IN RAT AND MOUSE

The rate at which the metabolism is stopped by means of freezing in Freon-12 (–150°C) was studied in various areas of the rat and mouse CNS, using changes in temperature and levels of glucose and lactate as parameters for this rate. The rat cerebral cortex was frozen after 0.5 min while the hypothalamus reached 0°C after more than 1.5 min. The skin on the skull was found to be the most important temperature isolator for the cortex. Substrate levels can be studied in this area only if this piece of skin is removed previously. In the mouse, the cerebral cortex was frozen after 6 s, the hypothalamus after 0.5 min. The lumbar level of the mouse spinal cord was frozen after 15 s, the cervical level only after 47 s. Liquid nitrogen alone cooled the mouse cerebral cortex at least as fast as did Freon at its melting point. A gradual decrease from dorsal to ventral was observed in the glucose level of the molecular layer of the mouse cerebellum. The existence of a freezing front, moving slowly from dorsal to ventral, and its consequences for the measured levels of biologically labile substrates, are discussed.