Rat brain metabolism enzyme activity variations following He-Ne laser irradiation

In order to gain insight into the metabolic modifications induced in rat brain tissues by helium-neon (He-Ne) laser irradiation, in the research described here, we investigated the variations in the activity of the enzymes aspartate transferase (AST, EC 2.6.1.4), both cytosolic and mitochondrial, glutamate dehydrogenase (GIDH, EC 1.4.1.3), and total superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), in the brain of rats treated with a very small dose (1.08 J) of He-Ne laser radiation. The rats were sacrificed 4 h after the treatment. The enzymes were evaluated spectrophotometrically in brain extracts of irradiated animals and also in untreated rats (controls) and rats that underwent simulated treatment (stressed). The data obtained from 5-10 animals assayed individually showed that, in the in toto brain tissues of the irradiated rats compared to the stressed rats, there was a marked increase of total SOD, together with an appreciable decrease of cytosolic AST, and insignificant variations in mitochondrial AST and GIDH. Stress alone caused a considerable decrease of total SOD and small but statistically significant increases of s-AST, m-AST, and GIDH.