Habib
04/01/2011, 07:00 AM
A collaboration of Russian scientists and some of the largest public aquariums in the world has shed a light on the cause of OTS and also a remedy for it.
With aging of water the D2O (deuterium oxide) and HDO (deuterium protium oxide) content of water decreases. D (deuterium) is a heavy isotope of H (hydrogen).
D2O and HDO are natural components of water. With time this amount decreases as it is preferentially incorporated instead of H in e.g. various amino acids and proteins.
D (deuterium) is very important in low concentration for biological funcions but becomes toxic in a too high concentration.
Depletion of deuterium also gives false values when the density of water (salinity) is measured.
Since depletion is the cause of OTS, the scientists are now working on a method to test for deuterium by public aquaria, a method for supplemention is something which they already have worked out.
From wikipedia:
Effect on biological systems
Heavy isotopes of chemical elements have slightly different chemical behaviors, but for most elements the differences in chemical behavior between isotopes are far too small to use, or even detect. For hydrogen, however, this is not true. The larger chemical isotope-effects seen with deuterium and tritium manifest because bond energies in chemistry are determined in quantum mechanics by equations in which the quantity of reduced mass of the nucleus and electrons appears. This quantity is altered in heavy-hydrogen compounds (of which deuterium oxide is the most common and familiar) more than for heavy-isotope substitution in other chemical elements. This isotope effect of heavy hydrogen is magnified further in biological systems, which are very sensitive to small changes in the solvent properties of water.
Heavy water is the only known chemical substance that affects the period of circadian oscillations, consistently increasing the length of each cycle. The effect is seen in unicellular organisms, green plants, isopods, insects, birds, mice, and hamsters. The mechanism is unknown.[9]
To perform their tasks, enzymes rely on their finely tuned networks of hydrogen bonds, both in the active center with their substrates, and outside the active center, to stabilize their tertiary structures. As a hydrogen bond with deuterium is slightly stronger[10] than one involving ordinary hydrogen, in a highly deuterated environment
With aging of water the D2O (deuterium oxide) and HDO (deuterium protium oxide) content of water decreases. D (deuterium) is a heavy isotope of H (hydrogen).
D2O and HDO are natural components of water. With time this amount decreases as it is preferentially incorporated instead of H in e.g. various amino acids and proteins.
D (deuterium) is very important in low concentration for biological funcions but becomes toxic in a too high concentration.
Depletion of deuterium also gives false values when the density of water (salinity) is measured.
Since depletion is the cause of OTS, the scientists are now working on a method to test for deuterium by public aquaria, a method for supplemention is something which they already have worked out.
From wikipedia:
Effect on biological systems
Heavy isotopes of chemical elements have slightly different chemical behaviors, but for most elements the differences in chemical behavior between isotopes are far too small to use, or even detect. For hydrogen, however, this is not true. The larger chemical isotope-effects seen with deuterium and tritium manifest because bond energies in chemistry are determined in quantum mechanics by equations in which the quantity of reduced mass of the nucleus and electrons appears. This quantity is altered in heavy-hydrogen compounds (of which deuterium oxide is the most common and familiar) more than for heavy-isotope substitution in other chemical elements. This isotope effect of heavy hydrogen is magnified further in biological systems, which are very sensitive to small changes in the solvent properties of water.
Heavy water is the only known chemical substance that affects the period of circadian oscillations, consistently increasing the length of each cycle. The effect is seen in unicellular organisms, green plants, isopods, insects, birds, mice, and hamsters. The mechanism is unknown.[9]
To perform their tasks, enzymes rely on their finely tuned networks of hydrogen bonds, both in the active center with their substrates, and outside the active center, to stabilize their tertiary structures. As a hydrogen bond with deuterium is slightly stronger[10] than one involving ordinary hydrogen, in a highly deuterated environment