Postmortem activity of the key enzymes of glycolysis. In rat brain regions in relation to time after death.

The activities of the rate-limiting enzymes of glycolytic pathway were measured in various areas of rat brains kept at a temperature of +25 degrees C for various intervals after death by cervical dislocation. Hexokinase shows a substantial decline in activity over a period of 24 h, reaching 41%, 57%, 44%, and 51% of the controls in cerebellum, medulla oblongata and pons, cerebral cortex, and diencephalon, respectively. In the same areas the phosphofructokinase reached 28%, 61%, 60%, and 40% of the zero-time activity, respectively. Lactate dehydrogenase behaves differently in the four areas, with an increase in cerebral cortex and diencephalon and a decrease in cerebellum and medulla oblongata and pons. Pyruvate kinase activity was quite stable over the 24 h period studied. Therefore, the activities of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase in brain tissue were of little value for diagnosis of the time of death.