Changes of the activity of glutamine synthetase in an experimental model of hypoxic preconditioning

Abstract

In the present work, the effect of hypoxic preconditioning on the activity of glutamine synthetase in the brain structures of old rats subjected to severe hypoxia was studied. The study of metabolic changes, in particular, some enzymes of glutamate metabolism, in the brain under conditions of oxygen deficiency and during hypoxic training is an actual problem, the solution of which makes it possible to determine possible ways to protect the nervous tissue from hypoxic damage and increase its stability. Hypoxia does not always induce cell death; under certain conditions, hypoxic exposure has a neuroprotective effect. Hypoxic preconditioning increases the resistance of neurons to the effects of more severe forms of hypoxia. In particular, the endogenous neuroprotective mechanism is triggered, the activity of glutamine synthetase increases, and, as a consequence, the neurotoxicity of glutamate decreases.