Glycolytic activity in the human cornea monitored with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

J. D. Gottsch, C. H. Chen, J. B. Aguayo, J. P. Cousins, E. R. Strahlman and W. J. Stark

This study confirms the feasibility of using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to assess, noninvasively, glucose metabolism in isolated corneal tissue. Glycolytic activity of human corneas was analyzed by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and spectrophotometric coupling assays. Glucose utilization and lactate formation were readily demonstrated in incubating intact and deepithelialized human corneas utilizing an NMR spectrometer with an array of spectra taken at ten-minute intervals over a period of nine hours. The lactate formation rate by biochemical coupling assays was determined to be approximately 0.50 mumol/hr in the intact cornea and 0.20 mumol/hr in the de-epithelialized cornea. Analysis by NMR spectroscopy of the rate of glucose utilization and lactate formation may be a useful means of determining human donor corneal viability.