Hydrogen Sulfide and Pathophysiology of the CNS

Abstract

The literature data and results of our research team concerning the physiological and pathological effects of hydrogen sulfide, a gas transmitter that has recently attracted significant and increasing attention of neurophysiologists, are analyzed. Hydrogen sulfide is a gaseous signaling molecule, the effects of which were discovered later than those of NO and CO; H2S was found to play great pathophysiological roles in various diseases. This compound is synthesized in the body by enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways from cysteine, using the pyridoxal 5’-phosphate-dependent enzymes cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) or cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE); 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3MST) plays a considerable role in H2S catabolism. Abnormal deviations in H2S metabolism are important factors involved in the development of a number of dangerous neurological pathologies, in particular of Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Huntington’s disease (HD), and Down’s syndrome (DS). This compound was also demonstrated to be involved in various biological and pathophysiological processes in the brain resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, oxidative stress, and cerebral edema. In the case of traumatic injury in the trout brain, the activation of CBS expression in the radial glia phenotypes occurs in the aNSC.