We propose the use of 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to investigate metabolite fluxes in the mammalian liver during cold hypoxia. Rat livers were flushed with one of four different preservation solutions and stored on ice in the same solution. The preservation solutions were: Marshall's hypertonic citrate (HC); carnosine modified HC (HC-C); modified University of Wisconsin (mod UW); and Bretschneider's histidine--typtophan--ketoglutarate (HTK). Liver biopsies were taken before and at 1, 2.5. 4, 24, and 48 h after storage, and freeze-clamped. The liver was extracted with perchloric acid and analyzed by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Components of the individual preservation solutions, such as citrate, histidine, mannitol, and raffinose, were detected in the extracts. Lactate was increased over the first 4 h in all stored livers, but only continued to increase in those stored in HC-C and HTK, reaching significantly high levels of 15 and 14 mumol/g, respectively, by 48 h storage (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). Levels of succinate and fumarate in all livers were generally unchanged in the first 0-4 h of storage. However, after 4 h of storage, succinate levels rose in the HC and HC-C livers, while remaining unchanged in mod UW and HTK livers. The presence of citrate in the preservation solutions appeared to enhance the late hepatic synthesis of succinate. Fumarate levels were significantly decreased by 48 h of cold storage, indicating continued fumarate consumption at low temperatures. Despite cold hypoxic conditions, some carbon-substrate cycling appears to continue in mammalian liver via pathways other than glycolysis, and citrate from the preservation solution appears to influence this.