Yusa T
Department of Anesthesiology and Division of Hyperbaric Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, School of Medicine, Okinawa, Japan.
J Neurosurg Anesthesiol. 1989 Jun;1(2):96-102. doi: 10.1097/00008506-198906000-00003.
The effects of hypoxic hypoxia and subsequent reoxygenation on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production was studied in the rat brain in vivo. Brain H2O2 production was measured by H2O2-dependent aminotriazole inactivation of endogenous brain catalase activity. Brain catalase activities of rats breathing air (0.2 ATA O2, control) were 168 +/- 5 (n = 10), 125 +/- 4 (n = 6), and 100 +/- 5 (n = 8) U/g brain (mean +/- SEM) at 0, 30, and 60 min after i.p. aminotriazole injection, respectively. Catalase activities after exposure to 5% O2 with N2 for 15 min, 10% O2 with N2 for 30 min, and 6% O2 with nitrous oxide (N2O) for 15 min were 131 +/- 4 (n = 7), 122 +/- 6 (n = 5), and 124 +/- 6 (n = 7) U/g brain, respectively, at 30 min after aminotriazole injection, and were not significantly different from each other or control. Reoxygenated on room air, 100% O2, and hyperbaric 3 ATA O2 for 30 min immediately after each period of hypoxia, brain catalase activity at 60 min after aminotriazole injection in the group of pre-exposure to 6% O2 with N2O was 67 +/- 3, 74 +/- 3, and 67 +/- 6 U/g brain with 0.2 ATA O2 (n = 6), 1.0 ATA O2 (n = 5), and 3.0 ATA O2 (n = 5), respectively. All of these were significantly different from control and other hypoxic pre-exposure groups with N2 (p <0.01) but not from each other. Reoxygenation of the brain after hypoxia with N2O could exacerbate cerebral damage by increasing oxygen free radical production.
