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Hydrogen Peroxide's Link to Living Cells
November 04, 2009If a circadian rhythm is like an orchestra - the united expression of the rhythms of millions of cells - a common chemical may serve as the conductor, or at least as the baton.
The chemical is hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the active ingredient in color safe bleach. Produced in all animal cells, hydrogen peroxide may act as a signal for the active and resting phases of living things, new research by USC biologists suggests.
A study published in the journal PLoS ONE shows that hydrogen peroxide given to fruit flies has dramatic effects on their daily rhythms and activity levels.
"H2O2 might be functioning as a systemic signal by which rhythms are regulated within cells and between cells," said lead author John Tower, associate professor in molecular and computational biology at USC College.
Most people are familiar with the concept of a circadian rhythm that governs sleeping and waking. But that is not the only circadian rhythm in the body.
Many organs and tissues within the body have their own independent circadian rhythms, and they also interact to coordinate their rhythms.
Tower's study suggests a link between metabolism - the production of energy by mitochondria, often described as the energy factories inside cells - and an animal's daily rhythms.
Mitochondria produce hydrogen peroxide as a by-product of oxygen combustion, making the chemical a candidate signal molecule.
"This is a logical way to connect rhythms to metabolism," Tower said.
"We know a lot about how circadian rhythms are regulated within certain cells. However, we have very little information on what signals coordinate circadian rhythms and how these rhythms are linked between metabolism and behavior."
For the rhythms of even two cells to agree, some sort of signal has to pass between them.
Tower's research group set out to find the signal by probing the action of an enzyme in mitochondria that converts toxic by-products of the body's combustion process into hydrogen peroxide, itself a harmful but less toxic substance which other defenses later break down further.
Tower and his team had noticed that overexpression of the enzyme, known as superoxide dismutase (SOD), boosted the activity level of fruit flies and even increased the life span of certain genetically engineered strains.
Tower suspected that hydrogen peroxide was the key ingredient in SOD's action.
"Hydrogen peroxide is a great candidate for a signaling molecule that would be involved in rhythms and behaviors. It's the most stable and diffusible of the reactive oxygen species (by-products of combustion), but no one had demonstrated a role for it."
As a test, Tower's group administered hydrogen peroxide directly to fruit flies through feeding and injection.
The researchers observed similar effects from the direct administration of hydrogen peroxide and the over-expression of the SOD enzyme.
Both strategies increased the activity levels of adult flies. Long-term direct treatment with hydrogen peroxide suppressed daily rhythms, while SOD over-expression altered those rhythms.
Tower explained that he had not expected identical results from direct treatment versus genetic over-expression.
"I think it's just a little too crude of an intervention, to feed them or inject them with the drug," he said, because those effects will not be rhythmic, whereas production of hydrogen peroxide by the mitochondria and by SOD is expected to be rhythmic and to correspond to the rhythm of metabolism.
Still, the similarities in the flies' reactions to direct treatment and to SOD over-expression suggested to the researchers that hydrogen peroxide is the crucial chemical.
"It's a very exciting result for us that our data now start to point to hydrogen peroxide as perhaps being a relevant signaling molecule for coupling metabolism to behaviors and rhythms in the animal," Tower said.
Hydrogen peroxide would govern rhythms inside each cell as well as between cells, Tower added.
Every cell alternates between a metabolic phase - in which it burns oxygen to make energy - and a detoxification phase in which the cell breaks down the harmful by-products of combustion.
Those rhythms must be coupled with the energy-producing activity of the mitochondria.
"Because hydrogen peroxide is produced by mitochondria as a product of metabolism, it's a great candidate for a relevant signal that might be modulating these cellular rhythms," Tower said.
Tower's group was able to correlate fly activity and hydrogen peroxide concentration precisely through a unique three-dimensional movement tracking system developed by first author and doctoral student Dhruv Grover (http://uscnews2.usc.edu/newstools/detail.php?recordnum=16087).
Doctoral students Daniel Ford, Nicholas Hoe and Aysen Erdem and undergraduate Christopher Brown also contributed to the study. Simon Tavare, professor of mathematics and molecular and computational biology at USC College, designed and supervised the statistical analyses.
Read the study at
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007580
University of Southern California
"H2O2 might be functioning as a systemic signal by which rhythms are regulated within cells and between cells," said lead author John Tower, associate professor in molecular and computational biology at USC College.
Most people are familiar with the concept of a circadian rhythm that governs sleeping and waking. But that is not the only circadian rhythm in the body.
Many organs and tissues within the body have their own independent circadian rhythms, and they also interact to coordinate their rhythms.
Tower's study suggests a link between metabolism - the production of energy by mitochondria, often described as the energy factories inside cells - and an animal's daily rhythms.
Mitochondria produce hydrogen peroxide as a by-product of oxygen combustion, making the chemical a candidate signal molecule.
"This is a logical way to connect rhythms to metabolism," Tower said.
"We know a lot about how circadian rhythms are regulated within certain cells. However, we have very little information on what signals coordinate circadian rhythms and how these rhythms are linked between metabolism and behavior."
For the rhythms of even two cells to agree, some sort of signal has to pass between them.
Tower's research group set out to find the signal by probing the action of an enzyme in mitochondria that converts toxic by-products of the body's combustion process into hydrogen peroxide, itself a harmful but less toxic substance which other defenses later break down further.
Tower and his team had noticed that overexpression of the enzyme, known as superoxide dismutase (SOD), boosted the activity level of fruit flies and even increased the life span of certain genetically engineered strains.
Tower suspected that hydrogen peroxide was the key ingredient in SOD's action.
"Hydrogen peroxide is a great candidate for a signaling molecule that would be involved in rhythms and behaviors. It's the most stable and diffusible of the reactive oxygen species (by-products of combustion), but no one had demonstrated a role for it."
As a test, Tower's group administered hydrogen peroxide directly to fruit flies through feeding and injection.
The researchers observed similar effects from the direct administration of hydrogen peroxide and the over-expression of the SOD enzyme.
Both strategies increased the activity levels of adult flies. Long-term direct treatment with hydrogen peroxide suppressed daily rhythms, while SOD over-expression altered those rhythms.
Tower explained that he had not expected identical results from direct treatment versus genetic over-expression.
"I think it's just a little too crude of an intervention, to feed them or inject them with the drug," he said, because those effects will not be rhythmic, whereas production of hydrogen peroxide by the mitochondria and by SOD is expected to be rhythmic and to correspond to the rhythm of metabolism.
Still, the similarities in the flies' reactions to direct treatment and to SOD over-expression suggested to the researchers that hydrogen peroxide is the crucial chemical.
"It's a very exciting result for us that our data now start to point to hydrogen peroxide as perhaps being a relevant signaling molecule for coupling metabolism to behaviors and rhythms in the animal," Tower said.
Hydrogen peroxide would govern rhythms inside each cell as well as between cells, Tower added.
Every cell alternates between a metabolic phase - in which it burns oxygen to make energy - and a detoxification phase in which the cell breaks down the harmful by-products of combustion.
Those rhythms must be coupled with the energy-producing activity of the mitochondria.
"Because hydrogen peroxide is produced by mitochondria as a product of metabolism, it's a great candidate for a relevant signal that might be modulating these cellular rhythms," Tower said.
Tower's group was able to correlate fly activity and hydrogen peroxide concentration precisely through a unique three-dimensional movement tracking system developed by first author and doctoral student Dhruv Grover (http://uscnews2.usc.edu/newstools/detail.php?recordnum=16087).
Doctoral students Daniel Ford, Nicholas Hoe and Aysen Erdem and undergraduate Christopher Brown also contributed to the study. Simon Tavare, professor of mathematics and molecular and computational biology at USC College, designed and supervised the statistical analyses.
Read the study at
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007580
University of Southern California
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Hydrogen Peroxide 12% 16 Ounces by O. W. Bionics H2O2 - Hydrogen Peroxide 16 fl. oz. Liquid by O-W & Company Hydrogen Peroxide (12%) that is food grade to be diluted with water and taken orally in an oxygen therapy regimen. |
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Heritage Products Hydrogen Peroxide Mouthwash, 16-Ounces (Pack of 4) by Heritage Store Unique foaming action. Oxygenating formula. Wakes up your mouth. Refreshing taste. Seal of approval not tested on animals. |
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Hydrogen Peroxide: Medical Miracle by William Campbell Douglass II (Author) Peroxides are supposed to be bad for you. Free radicals and all that. But now we hear that hydrogen peroxide is good for us. Hydrogen peroxide will put extra oxygen in your blood. There's no doubt about that. Hydrogen peroxide costs pennies. So if you can get oxygen into the blood cheaply and safely, maybe cancer (which doesn't like oxygen), emphysema, AIDS, and many other terrible diseases can be treated effectively. Intravenous hydrogen peroxide rapidly relieves allergic reactions, influenza symptoms, and acute viral infections. No one expects to live forever. But we would all like to have a George Burns finish. The prospect of finishing life in a nursing home after abandoning your tricycle in the mobile home park is not appealing. Then comes the loss of control of vital functions the... |
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HYDROGEN PEROXIDE ANTISEPTIC SOLUTION 16 OZ by VI-JON/CUMBERLAND SWAN First Aid Antiseptic, oral debriding agent. For treatment of minor cuts and abrasions or for use as a gargle or mouth rinse. Helps prevent the risk of infection in cuts, scrapes and burns. Aids in the removal of phlegm, mucus or other secretions associated with occassional sore mouth. Contains 3% hydrogen peroxide. 16 fl oz. bottle. |
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FOOD GRADE H2O2 - 8% by Family Health FOOD GRADE 8% Hydrogen Peroxide solution is good for disinfecting water, a foliar spray, chemical free cleaning and bleaching. 1 Pint - 16 oz. |
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Hydrogen Peroxide: Medical Miracle by William Campbell Douglass (Author) Peroxides are supposed to be bad for you. Free radicals and all that. But now we hear that hydrogen peroxide is good for us. Hydrogen peroxide will put extra oxygen in your blood. There's no doubt about that. Hydrogen peroxide costs pennies. So if you can get oxygen into the blood cheaply and safely, maybe cancer (which doesn't like oxygen), emphysema, AIDS, and many other terrible diseases can be treated effectively. Intravenous hydrogen peroxide rapidly relieves allergic reactions, influenza symptoms, and acute viral infections. No one expects to live forever. But we would all like to have a George Burns finish. The prospect of finishing life in a nursing home after abandoning your tricycle in the mobile home park is not appealing. Then comes the loss of control of... |
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Hydrogen Peroxide --- 32 Oz by PREFFERED PLUS PRODUCTS SKU NUMBER: 509174The Mininimum EXP date on product:1Year.TITLE DESCRIPTION: Hydrogen Peroxide --- 32 OzMANUFACTURER:PREFFERED PLUS PRODUCTS. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:Hydrogen Peroxide, 3%. Local antiseptic commonly used for minor cuts and abrasions. |
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CASE 8% FOOD GRADE - 9 PINTS by Family Health FOOD GRADE 8% Hydrogen Peroxide. Buy the case nine pints of eight percent good grade. Hot tubs, bathing & sprouting |
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