Excessive oxygen affects brain activity - study
For the first time in a living organism, scientists evaluated the relationship between brain activity and oxygen consumption.
LMU neuroscientists: Hans Straka, Susan Ozugur and Lars Kunz - have found out how excess oxygen affects brain activity. In an experiment published in the journal BMC Biology, researchers used electrochemical sensors to determine the oxygen concentration in the brain of the frog tadpoles Xenopus laevis. The activity of nerve cells that control eye movements, scientists controlled with the help of pharmacological substances.
It turned out that with a normal oxygen content in the air, about half of the incoming oxygen is spent on the work of nerve cells. The other half goes to maintain the basic rate of nerve cell metabolism and the activity of glial brain cells. The increased oxygen content did not lead to any changes in the activity of neurons and other cells in the brain of tadpoles. Artificially enhanced activity of nerve cells, in contrast, caused an increase in oxygen consumption.
The results from the LMU team are just the first step towards a complete understanding of how information is processed in the brain. To do this, it is necessary to further study the relationship between oxygen availability and brain activity.
LMU neuroscientists: Hans Straka, Susan Ozugur and Lars Kunz - have found out how excess oxygen affects brain activity. In an experiment published in the journal BMC Biology, researchers used electrochemical sensors to determine the oxygen concentration in the brain of the frog tadpoles Xenopus laevis. The activity of nerve cells that control eye movements, scientists controlled with the help of pharmacological substances.
It turned out that with a normal oxygen content in the air, about half of the incoming oxygen is spent on the work of nerve cells. The other half goes to maintain the basic rate of nerve cell metabolism and the activity of glial brain cells. The increased oxygen content did not lead to any changes in the activity of neurons and other cells in the brain of tadpoles. Artificially enhanced activity of nerve cells, in contrast, caused an increase in oxygen consumption.
The results from the LMU team are just the first step towards a complete understanding of how information is processed in the brain. To do this, it is necessary to further study the relationship between oxygen availability and brain activity.
