Effects of adaptation to periodic hypoxia on kinetic parameters of respiratory chain enzymes in rat brain

A study of kinetic parameters of brain respiratory enzymes revealed that the maximal velocity and the Michaelis apparent constant for NADH-cytochrome C-reductase are significantly lower in low-resistant rats than in rats with a high resistance to hypoxia. Adaptation to periodic hypoxia increases total resistance only in low-resistant rats. It is accompanied by an increase in the values of kinetics parameters for NADH-cytochrome C-reductase and cytochrome oxidase. Kinetic parameters for these enzymes in the brain of high-resistant rats are either unaltered or even decreased. It is suggested that the first enzymatic complex of the respiratory chain is one of the limiting or regulating links in energy metabolism determining the brain's resistance to hypoxia. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 121, N ^o 3, pp. 252–255, March, 1996.