2D COSY 1H NMR: a new tool for studying in situ brain metabolism in the living animal.

2D COSY 1H NMR with surface coil has been used to resolve and assign cerebral metabolites which had previously been detected but could not be resolved or assigned in situ in the living animal by conventional 1D 1H NMR. A wide range of cerebral metabolites, including alanine, N-acetyl aspartate, aspartate, choline derivatives, creatine/phosphocreatine pool, GABA, glucose, glutamate/glutamine pool, inositol, lactate and taurine were simultaneously resolved and assigned in situ in the whole animal using the 2D COSY correlation graphs. Global irreversible ischemia caused the appearance and the disappearance of cross-peaks in the 2D COSY 1H NMR map, corresponding to increases in alanine, GABA and lactate and glucose depletion.