Isotope Exchange of Deuterium for Protium in Rat Brain Tissues Changes Brain Tolerance to Hypoxia

Abstract

The effect of deuterium-depleted water on oxidative processes in the rat brain under physiological or hypoxic conditions was studied. The results obtained by a tissue culture method that characterize the functional parameters of neurons under stress are also presented. Results on free radical processes in the rat brain tissues demonstrated that consumption of deuterium-depleted water over 2 weeks has a stress effect. The long-term consumption of deuterium-depleted water caused activation of non-specific protective systems. The effect of a saline solution prepared with deuterium-depleted water on a cerebellar tissue culture was also studied. When incubation occurred in a saline solution based on deuterium-depleted water, glucose deprivation and temperature stress (39°C) were found to result in increased cell death in the neuronal culture. The neuron death rates under physiological conditions were similar in the case of both 150 and 50 ppm deuterium. At the same time, the mitochondrial membrane potential of cerebellar neurons decreased in the deuterium-depleted medium. Thus, incubation of cerebellar neurons in the deuterium-depleted saline solution had no cytoprotective effect.