The biological impact of deuterium and therapeutic potential of deuterium-depleted water

Since its discovery by Harold Urey in 1932, deuterium has attracted increased amounts of attention from the scientific community, with many previous works aimed to uncover its biological effects on living organisms. Existing studies indicate that deuterium, as a relatively rare isotope, is indispensable for maintaining normal cellular function, while its enrichment and depletion can affect living systems at multiple levels, including but not limited to molecules, organelles, cells, organs, and organisms. As an important compound of deuterium, deuterium-depleted water (DDW) possess various special effects, including but not limited to altering cellular metabolism and potentially inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, demonstrating anxiolytic-like behavior, enhancing long-term memory in rats, reducing free radical oxidation, regulating lipid metabolism, harmonizing indices related to diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and alleviating toxic effects caused by cadmium, manganese, and other harmful substances, implying its tremendous potential in anticancer, neuroprotective, antiaging, antioxidant, obesity alleviation, diabetes and metabolic syndrome treatment, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification, thereby drawing extensive attention from researchers. This review comprehensively summarizes the latest progress in deuterium acting on living organisms. We start by providing a snapshot of the distribution of deuterium in nature and the tolerance of various organisms to it. Then, we discussed the impact of deuterium excess and deprivation, in the form of deuterium-enriched water (DEW) and deuterium-depleted water (DDW), on living organisms at different levels. Finally, we focused on the potential of DDW as an adjuvant therapeutic agent for various diseases and disorders.

Electrophysiological Activity and Survival Rate of Rats Nervous Tissue Cells Depends on D/H Isotopic Composition of Medium

The deuterium content modification in an organism has a neuroprotective effect during the hypoxia model, affecting anxiety, memory and stress resistance. The aim of this work was to elucidate the possible mechanisms of the medium D/H composition modification on nerve cells. We studied the effect of an incubation medium with a 50 ppm deuterium content compared to a medium with 150 ppm on: (1) the activity of Wistar rats' hippocampus CA1 field neurons, (2) the level of cultured cerebellar neuron death during glucose deprivation and temperature stress, (3) mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and the generation of reactive oxygen species in cultures of cerebellar neurons. The results of the analysis showed that the incubation of hippocampal sections in a medium with a 50 ppm deuterium reduced the amplitude of the pop-spike. The restoration of neuron activity was observed when sections were returned to the incubation medium with a 150 ppm deuterium content. An environment with a 50 ppm deuterium did not significantly affect the level of reactive oxygen species in neuron cultures, while MMP decreased by 16-20%. In experiments with glucose deprivation and temperature stress, the medium with 50 ppm increased the death of neurons. Thus, a short exposure of nerve cells in the medium with 50 ppm deuterium acts as an additional stressful factor, which is possibly associated with the violation of the cell energy balance. The decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential, which is known to be associated with ATP synthesis, indicates that this effect may be associated with the cell energy imbalance. The decrease in the activity of the CA1 field hippocampal neurons may reflect reversible adaptive changes in the operation of fast-reacting ion channels.

Deuterium-Depleted Water Influence on the Isotope 2H/1H Regulation in Body and Individual Adaptation

This review article presents data about the influence of deuterium-depleted water (DDW) on biological systems. It is known that the isotope abundances of natural and bottled waters are variable worldwide. That is why different drinking rations lead to changes of stable isotopes content in body water fluxes in human and animal organisms. Also, intracellular water isotope ratios in living systems depends on metabolic activity and food consumption. We found the 2H/1H gradient in human fluids (δ2H saliva >> δ2H blood plasma > δ2Hbreast milk), which decreases significantly during DDW intake. Moreover, DDW induces several important biological effects in organism (antioxidant, metabolic detoxification, anticancer, rejuvenation, behavior, etc.). Changing the isotope 2H/1H gradient from "2H blood plasma > δ2H visceral organs" to "δ2H blood plasma << δ2H visceral organs" via DDW drinking increases individual adaptation by isotopic shock. The other possible mechanisms of long-term adaptation is DDW influence on the growth rate of cells, enzyme activity and cellular energetics (e.g., stimulation of the mitochondrion activity). In addition, DDW reduces the number of single-stranded DNA breaks and modifies the miRNA profile.