Interhemisphere Asymmetry of the Pro-/Antioxidant Systems in the Rat Brain: Effects of Hypokinesia and Extrahigh-Frequency Electromagnetic Radiation

Abstract

We studied changes in the interhemisphere asymmetry of the intensity of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and total content of thiol groups (TTG) in the rat cerebral neocortex. These indices characteristic for animals with different motor phenotypes (dextrals, sinistrals, and ambidextrals) were measured in the control and under the influence of hypokinesia, low-intensity millimeter-range electromagnetic radiation (mmR EMR), and their combination. The development of hypokinetic stress in rats (after 10-day-long motor restriction) resulted in a sharp activation of LPO and suppression of thiol/disulfide metabolism in the neocortex of rats with different types of motor asymmetry. Hypokinesia was accompanied by considerable drops in the coefficients of interhemisphere asymmetry (up to reversal of their signs); this can be related to decreases in the resistivity of the organism to stress and adaptability to external influences. When intact animals with different types of motor asymmetry were irradiated with mmR EMR, the intensity of LPO in the neocortex of both hemispheres decreased concurrently with intensification of thiol/ disulfide metabolism. The combined influence of hypokinesia and mmR EMR led to considerably smaller shifts in the above indices, as compared with those after isolated action of hypokinesia. When mmR EMR influenced animals were kept under conditions of normal motor mode and motor restriction, the signs of the coefficients of asymmetry of the indices under study did not change, while the intensity of interhemisphere asymmetry increased. We suppose that this is related to an increase in the adaptability of the organism to the action of stressor factors.