[Homocarnosine content and homocarnosine-carnosine synthetase activity in brain areas of hyperoxic rats].

The homocarnosine content and homocarnosine synthetase activity were studied in the brain of rats in normal state and under hyperoxia. The homocarnosine content is higher in phylogenetically old brain areas as compared with that in the cerebral hemispheres. Its nonuniform distribution in the brain is associated with different activity of homocarnosine-carnosine synthetase in the corresponding brain areas. At the preconvulsive stage of oxygen poisoning the homocarnosine content in all the brain areas does not change, the homocarnosine-carnosine synthetase activity is 32% lower. At the convulsive stage of hyperoxia the homocarnosine amount in the cerebral hemisphere decreases by 33%, in the midbrain and diencephalon -- by 70, in the medulla oblongata -- by 60, in the cerebellum -- by 58%. The decrease in the homocarnosine content correlates with that in the activity of homocarnosine-carnosine synthetase in the corresponding brain areas; in the cerebral hemispheres -- by 33%, in the midbrain and diencephalon -- by 50, in the medulla oblongata -- by 49, in the cerebellum -- by 40%.