Ai-Ling Lin1, Shao-Hua Yang2, Fang Du1, Andrew Bresnen1, Shiliang Huang1, Timothy Q. Duong1
1Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Anotnio, San Antonio, TX, United States; 2, Institute for Alzheimers Disease and Aging Research, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX, United States
Methylene blue (MB) can sustains ATP production by acting as an electron donor in the mitochondrial electron transport chain under stressed condition. MB is clinically used to treat methemoglobinemia and cyanide poisoning, and it has recently been shown to be neuroprotective in a number of neurological diseases. We recently showed that MB increased cerebral blood flow, cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen, and cerebral metabolic rate of glucose in rat brains, with corroboration by In Vitro measures of glucose and oxygen consumption. In this study, we asked the question whether MB could help sustain hemodynamic and metabolic responses under hypoxic conditions.