Effects of adaptation to intermittent hypoxia on oxidative phosphorylation in brain mitochondria of rats with different sensitivities toward oxygen deficiency

After long-term adaptation to intermittent hypoxia, rats with an initially low resistance to acute oxygen deficiency were 2 to 4 times more resistant to it, while highly resistant rats did not show a significant change in resistance. The adaptation was accompanied by weakening of the electron-transporting function of the respiratory chain and increasing efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation in the brain mitochondria oxidizing NAD-dependent substrates, indicating that energy was produced in a more economical way. The succinate oxidase pathway of oxidation was found to be utilized to only a limited extent as a compensatory mechanism in animals exposed to intermittent hypoxia over a prolonged period. The effects of adaptation were more marked in the brain mitochondria of rats initially highly sensitive to oxygen deficiency. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 120, N ^o 12, pp. 572–575, December, 1995