Hydrogen is a chemical element with an atomic number of 1. It has just one proton and one electron. Deuterium is the heavier naturally occurring, non-radioactive, stable isotope of hydrogen. Deuterium contains one proton, one electron, and a neutron, effectively doubling the mass of the deuterium isotope without changing its properties significantly. Substituting deuterium for hydrogen yields deuterated compounds that are similar in size and shape to hydrogen-based compounds.
One of the most pernicious and irreparable types of oxidative damage inflicted by reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon biomolecules involves the carbon-hydrogen bond cleavage (hydrogen abstraction). In theory, replacing hydrogen with deuterium "reinforces" the bond due to the kinetic isotope effect, and such reinforced biomolecules taken up by the body will be more resistant to ROS.
The deuterium-reinforced lipids resists the non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation (LPO) through isotope effect — a non-antioxidant based mechanism that protects mitochondrial, neuronal and other lipid membranes, thereby greatly reducing the levels of numerous LPO-derived toxic products such as reactive carbonyls.
Treating cells with deuterium-containing PUFAs (D-PUFAs) can prevent of ferroptosis. This treatment stops the autoxidation process through the kinetic isotope effect (KIE), as shown in Table 1 [66]. The efficacy of D-PUFAs in preventing ferroptosis has been demonstrated in models induced by erastin and RSL3, and has shown promising results in various disease models, especially those related to neurodegenerative disorders.