Metabolite changes in the ipsilateral and contralateral cerebral hemispheres in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion

Cerebral ischemia not only causes pathological changes in the ischemic areas but also induces a series of secondary changes in more distal brain regions（such as the contralateral cerebral hemisphere）. The impact of supratentorial lesions, which are the most common type of lesion, on the contralateral cerebellum has been studied in patients by positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. In the present study, we investigated metabolite changes in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere after supratentorial unilateral ischemia using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabonomics. The permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion model of ischemic stroke was established in rats. Rats were randomly divided into the middle cerebral artery occlusion 1-, 3-, 9-and 24-hour groups and the sham group. ~1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to detect metabolites in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Compared with the sham group, the concentrations of lactate, alanine, γ-aminobutyric acid, choline and glycine in the ischemic cerebral hemisphere were increased in the acute stage, while the concentrations of N-acetyl aspartate, creatinine, glutamate and aspartate were decreased. This demonstrates that there is an upregulation of anaerobic glycolysis（shown by the increase in lactate）, a perturbation of choline metabolism（suggested by the increase in choline）, neuronal cell damage（shown by the decrease in N-acetyl aspartate） and neurotransmitter imbalance（evidenced by the increase in γ-aminobutyric acid and glycine and by the decrease in glutamate and aspartate） in the acute stage of cerebral ischemia. In the contralateral hemisphere, the concentrations of lactate, alanine, glycine, choline and aspartate were increased, while the concentrations of γ-aminobutyric acid, glutamate and creatinine were decreased. This suggests that there is a difference in the metabolite changes induced by ischemic injury in the contralateral and ipsilateral cerebral hemispheres. Our findings demonstrate the presence of characteristic changes in metabolites in the contralateral hemisphere and suggest that they are most likely caused by metabolic changes in the ischemic hemisphere.

Role of potential on high-order harmonic generation from atoms irradiated by bichromatic counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields

We investigate high-order harmonic generation from atoms irradiated by bichromatic counter-rotating circularly polarized laser pulses by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation.It is found that the minimum energy position of the harmonic spectrum and the non-integer order optical radiation are greatly discrepant for different atomic potentials.By analyzing the quantum trajectory of the harmonic emission,discrepancies among the harmonic spectra from different potentials can be attributed to the action of the potential on the ionized electrons.In addition,based on the influence of the driving light intensity on the overall intensity and ellipticity of higher order harmonics,the physical conditions for generating a high-intensity circularly polarized harmonic can be obtained.