Response Longer-Term O2 Deprivation

While the response to O2 deprivation over a short (e.g., minutes), acute period is characterized mostly by ionie homeostatie alterations, as detailed above, the response to longer-term (e.g., hours, days, months) hypoxia is manifested by alterations in gene expression, protein levels, and a variety of other changes inside and outside cells. Gene transeription and translation of both plasma and mitochondrial membrane proteins in vertebrates and invertebrates have been studied in our laboratory and others. Below are a few examples that illustrate the idea that a number of proteins change their expression and that these have a major impact on excitabflity and metabolism in nerve eells. These ehanges do not take place except after hours and days of O2 deprivation. 

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These studies also indicate that a number of proteins change their expression, most likely through either transcriptional regulation or RNA stability. How 02-sensing mechanisms operate to increase or decrease transcription or alter RNA stability may also be different than, say, those sensing mechanisms that alter cell functions and manifest themselves via very quick electrophysiological responses. 

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