A VERSATILE PERIFUSION SYSTEM FOR THE NMR-SPECTROSCOPY OF BOVINE RETINA - ASSIGNMENT OF RESONANCES AND EFFECT OF ISCHEMIA

A perifusion system has been designed for metabolic nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy studies of the bovine retina. This system, which allows the use of unmodified commercial probes for multinuclear studies, is shown here to maintain the perifused retina in a metabolic steady state at 25°C, as deduced from its 31P and 1H NMR spectra. The 31P NMR ex vivo spectrum of the retina has been characterized, and its major resonances have been assigned in tissue extracts. We have found that excised retinal tissue subjected to 2 hr of ischemia is capable, upon perifusion with oxygenated medium, of recovering its resting spectral pattern. Thus, this system offers a versatile model for studies of physiological events related with ischemia in a neural tissue, without associated systemic effects. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.