Orrenius S, Thor H, Rajs J, Berggren M
Forensic Sci. 1976 Nov-Dec;8(3):255-63. doi: 10.1016/0300-9432(76)90140-0.
Rat hepatocytes were isolated by liver perfusion in the presence of collagenase and hyaluronidase and incubated in the absence or presence of oxygen. As a result of anoxia, there was a gradual increase in plasma membrane permeability, noted as an increase in succinate-stimulated oxygen uptake, a decrease in trypan blue exclusion frequency, a leakage of cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase activity and an increased proportion of swollen and disrupted cells. After anaerobic incubation for 30 minutes--but not for 60 minutes--there were signs of recovery from anoxic cell injury upon re-oxygenation. The changes in plasma membrane permeability properties in anoxia seemed to be preceded by a marked decrease in cellular ATP level; aerobic incubation of hepatocytes in the presence of an uncoupler of phosphorylation from respiration led to a similar decrease in cellular ATP concentration followed by similar disturbances in plasma membrane permeability properties. It is suggested that a distrubed plasma membrane function caused by a decreased energy level is of primary importance for the initiation of cell death in anoxia.
