The isolated brainstem-spinal axis from the neonatal rat is an established model for studying neuronal responses of the ventilatory control system, however, its viability has not been clearly established. We studied the brainstem-spinal axis from newborn rats at 8.5 T with P-31 NMR spectroscopy. The relative pattern of high energy phosphates (HEPs) was similar to that reported for the in vivo neonatal brain. The average pH(i) was 0.2 to 0.4 units less than the pH(i) for the in vivo neonatal brain. The HEPs and pH(i) were stable for 6 h, suggesting extended in vitro viability.