Abstract
ABSTRACT: Sugar alcohols have been found to play an important osmoregulatory role both in unicellular organisms and, more recently, in multicellular organisms, including mammals. This study shows that myo-inositol accumulates in the brains of chronically hypernatremic mice, as had been earlier found in rats, and demonstrates for the first time a profound decrease of myo-inositol in the brains of chronically hyponatremic mice. Together with decreases in better known cerebral osmoles (amino acids and related nitrogenous compounds), the decrease in myo-inositol apparently allows the brain to balance its intracellular osmolality with that of the plasma, permitting a normal brain water content (no edema) despite profound hyponatremia.
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Thurston, J., Sherman, W., Hauhart, R. et al. myo-Inositol: A Newly Identified Nonnitrogenous Osmoregulatory Molecule in Mammalian Brain. Pediatr Res 26, 482–485 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198911000-00024
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198911000-00024
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