Free radical scavenging systems of rat astroglial cells in primary culture: effects of anoxia and drug treatment.

Hypoxic injury of rat astroglial cells in primary culture initiates several modifications of their functional integrity. A significant decrease of the cellular oxygen consumption was observed in astrocytes submitted to a 15 h low oxygen pressure. The addition of almitrine (dialylamino-4',6'-triazinyl 2')-1-(bis-parafluorobenzydryl)-4-piperazine, a chemoreceptor agonist, restored almost completely the respiratory activity of the hypoxia treated cells. In order to test the hypothesis that oxygen free radical formation may contribute to the cellular damage resulting from ischemia, the activities of the following antioxidant enzymatic systems have been determined in the cultured astrocytes: Cu,Zn- and Mn-superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), glutathione reductase (GSH-RED), and catalase (CAT). Only a significant and specific decrease of the Mn-SOD activity was observed after the hypoxia-normoxia exposure. The other oxygen radical scavenging systems were not modified. The addition of almitrine antagonized the decrease of the Mn-SOD activity observed in the low oxygen pressure treated cells, but results clearly point-out the importance of oxygen radical production in the astroglial response after hypoxic injury. A beneficial effect of almitrine toward the observed alteration has been underlined. It is suggested that some mitochondrial alterations could be related to some aspects of the astroglial hypoxic stress.