Wei Feng1,2 · Lijuan Pang1,2,6 · Chun‑Jie Liu3  · Jiuming He4  · Lisi Wang1,2 · Zhenyu Xu5  · Yinglong Zeng5  · Zengqiang Yuan7,8 · Chao Zhang1,2

1 Zhanjiang Institute of Clinical Medicine, Central People’s Hospital of Zhanjiang, Zhanjiang 524045, China 

2 Zhanjiang Central Hospital, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524045, China 

3 Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Hubei Bioinformatics and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China 

4 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China 

5 Shanghai Luming Biological Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201114, China 

6 Department of Pathology, Zhanjiang Central Hospital, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524000, China 

7 Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China 

8 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China

Abstract

The brain supports consciousness through regional heterogeneity. However, the spatial complexity of its metabolome under anesthesia remains unclear. In this study, we established a spatial metabolomic atlas of the mouse brain under wakefulness, inhalation anesthesia, and injectable anesthesia. In total, 727 metabolites were identified and spatially mapped across 11 representative brain regions. We found that anesthesia significantly altered the brain metabolic landscape in a spatially dependent manner, particularly affecting lipid metabolism, amino acid pathways, and neurotransmitter-related metabolites. Furthermore, we monitored the cortical microvascular blood flow and blood oxygen levels during anesthesia. We observed that different anesthesia modalities induced distinct changes in cortical arteriovenous microvascular hemodynamics, suggesting a potential association between metabolic alterations and cerebrovascular regulation. We developed an open-access online database, the mouse brain spatial metabolome atlas (https://mbsma.liulab.cloud/#/dashboard), to facilitate access to and analysis of the dataset. Our study reveals anesthesia-induced spatial metabolic reprogramming in the brain, providing insights into neural metabolism and cerebrovascular dynamics, with implications for perioperative brain protection and safer anesthesia strategies.

Keywords

Brain; Anesthesia; Metabolism; Mass spectrometry; Imaging

[SpringerLink]