The effect of multiple exposure to high pressure oxygen on the accumulation of [ 3H]lysine into spinal cord grey matter, retina and various types of neurons

Abstract

Male Wistar strain rats were subjected to repeated exposures to oxygen at high pressure (OHP) at 3 atm absolute for 1 hr each day for 10 days. They were then injected with [ 3H] dl-lysine while in the awakened state through indwelling intravenous cannulas and compared with appropriate controls in relation to [ 3H]lysine accumulation in plasma, retina, spinal cord grey matter, Purkinje cells, ventral horn motor neurons and in dorsal root ganglia and supraoptic neurons. Accumulation of lysine into blocks of tissue was depressed in retina, whole dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord grey matter, but not in Purkinje cells or ventral horn motor neurons. Accumulation was depressed in cells of the dorsal root ganglia, but elevated in the cells of the supraoptic nucleus. These variations would seem to represent regional differences in response to OHP.