pH measurement as quality control on human post mortem brain tissue: a study of the BrainNet Europe consortium
Open accessAbstract
Aims: Most brain diseases are complex entities. Although animal models or cell culture experiments mimic some disease aspects, human post mortem brain tissue remains essential to advance our understanding of brain diseases using biochemical and molecular techniques. Post mortem artefacts must be properly understood, standardized, and either eliminated or factored into such experiments. Here we examine the influence of several premortem and post mortem factors on pH, and discuss the role of pH as a biochemical marker for brain tissue quality. Methods: We assessed brain tissue pH in 339 samples from 116 brains provided by 8 different European and 2 Australian brain bank centres. We correlated brain pH with tissue source, post mortem delay, age, gender, freezing method, storage duration, agonal state and brain ischaemia. Results: Our results revealed that only prolonged agonal state and ischaemic brain damage influenced brain tissue pH next to repeated freeze/thaw cycles. Conclusions: pH measurement in brain tissue is a good indicator of premortem events in brain tissue and it signals limitations for post mortem investigations.
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Very few transcriptomic studies provide information on acute premortem variables or cause of death, which may potentially have a much larger effect on RNA quality and gene expression.
“Additionally, very few transcriptomic studies provide information on acute premortem variables or cause of death, which are particularly important as they may potentially have a much larger effect on RNA quality and gene expression71–76,78–80.”
From Dissection of artifactual and confounding glial signatures by single-cell sequencing of mouse and human brain (2022) · cites this paper as [75]
The Introduction says agonal conditions can affect brain-tissue biochemistry and that ischaemia can alter mRNA preservation; the Discussion reports lower brain pH after a prolonged terminal phase. The paper does not establish that very few transcriptomic studies report acute premortem variables or cause of death, nor does it measure a larger effect on RNA quality or gene expression. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Monoranu, C. M., Apfelbacher, M., Grünblatt, E., Puppe, B., Alafuzoff, I., Ferrer, I., Al‐Saraj, S., Keyvani, K., Schmitt, A., Falkai, P., Schittenhelm, J., Halliday, G., Kril, J., Harper, C., McLean, C., Riederer, P., & Roggendorf, W.
- Affiliations
- Institute of Pathology (TH)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- University Hospital Münster (DE)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- The Alfred Hospital (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Apfelbacher, M.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-04-29
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 329-337
- ISSN
- 0305-1846 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2990
- PMC
- PMC4532399
- OpenAlex
- W1976059181
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 5.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R24AA012725)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Organ Donation and Transplantation
- Keywords
- brain tissue pH, postmortem brain, agonal state, brain ischaemia, freeze-thaw cycles, postmortem delay, brain banks, brain disorders
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Brain, Brain Chemistry, Brain Ischemia, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Middle Aged, Organ Preservation, Quality Control, Tissue Banks, Cryopreservation, Young Adult
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