Extreme hypoxia tolerance of naked mole-rat brain.
Mammalian brains have extremely high levels of aerobic metabolism and typically suffer irreversible damage after brief periods of oxygen deprivation such as occur during stroke or cardiac arrest. Here we report that brain tissue from naked mole-rats, rodents that live in a chronically low-oxygen environment, is remarkably resistant to hypoxia: naked mole-rat neurons maintain synaptic transmission much longer than mouse neurons and can recover from periods of anoxia exceeding 30 min. We suggest that brain tolerance to hypoxia may result from slowed or arrested brain development in these extremely long-lived animals.
Larson
John
J
Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Institute, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. jrlarson@uic.edu
Park
Thomas J
TJ
D000241:Adenosine / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008839:Microelectrodes; D019577:Mole Rats; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
D000241:Adenosine