good idea to avoid stress

Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Fri, 23 Apr 1999 05:34:45 -0700 (PDT)

Authors
Liu J. Wang X. Shigenaga MK. Yeo HC. Mori A. Ames BN. Institution
Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA. Title
Immobilization stress causes oxidative damage to lipid, protein, and DNA in the brain of rats [see comments]. Comments
Comment in: FASEB J 1997 Apr;11(5):374-5 Source
FASEB Journal. 10(13):1532-8, 1996 Nov. Abstract
Immobilization stress of male
Sprague-Dawley rats induces oxidative damage to lipid, protein, and DNA in the brain. Significant increases in lipid peroxidation were found in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, and midbrain compared to the unstressed controls. Significant increases in levels of protein oxidation were also found in the cortex, hypothalamus, striatum, and medulla oblongata. Oxidative nuclear DNA damage increased after stress in all brain regions, although only the cerebral cortex showed a significant increase. Depletion of glutathione showed some stimulation to oxidative damage in the unstressed control and stressed animals. Further studies of the mitochondrial and cytosol fractions of cerebral cortex demonstrated that mitochondria showed a significantly greater increase in lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation than cytosol. Data from plasma and liver showed oxidative damage similar to that of the brain. These findings provide evidence to support the idea that stress produces oxidants, and that the oxidative damage in stress could contribute to the degenerative diseases of aging, including brain dysfunction.