Characterizing lung metabolism with carbon-13 magnetic resonance spectroscopy in a small-animal model : Evidence of gluconeogenesis during hypothermic storage

Experimental evidence suggests storing lungs inflated with oxygen and with oxidizable substrate improves results of lung transplantation. Glucose is included in the low-potassium-dextran (LPD) solution Perfadex to achieve this goal. The authors hypothesized that other substrates might be more effective. Rat lungs were stored for 6 or 24 hr in LPD solution with the following carbon-13--labeled substrates: 5 mM glucose (Perfadex group), 32 mM pyruvate (pyruvate group), or both (combination group). Metabolism was assessed by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Small amounts of exogenous glucose were oxidized in the Perfadex group. In contrast, exogenous pyruvate was the major substrate oxidized in the pyruvate and combination groups (P