Does a moderate hypoxia induce manganese-superoxide dismutase or heat shock proteins to act as possible protective...

Male Wistar rats were kept in a hypoxia chamber (9% O2) for eight hours. Control animals breathed room air in the same chamber for a similar period of time. One week later the brains of all rats were prepared for the immunohistochemical demonstration of Mn-superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD). In comparison with the sham-exposed controls, the hypoxia-treated animals showed an increase in the number of Mn-SOD-immunoreactive neurons in several hippocampal structures. The 72 kD heat shock protein was not found to be induced one week after a moderate hypoxia.