{
  "abstract": "Deuterium is a natural heavy isotope of hydrogen, containing a neutron as well as a proton, making it twice as heavy. Mitochondrial ATP synthase nanomotors are highly sensitive to deuterium, because it impedes the flow of protons through the nanomotors and causes the γ C-terminal helix to unwind. It appears that metabolic processes have evolved to devise ways to reduce the deuterium load in the mitochondria, primarily, we argue, by exploiting several small hydrogen-containing molecular gases. We propose that, when a gas is produced, deuterium, due to its extra weight, tends to stay behind in the aqueous medium, so the gas becomes deuterium-depleted. Furthermore, many of the enzymes that synthesize and/or metabolize these small gas molecules fractionate out deuterium by exploiting proton tunneling. We hypothesize that the gut microbes play a crucial role in producing deuterium-depleted gas molecules, such as hydrogen gas (H ₂ ), methane (CH ₄ ), ammonia (NH ₃ ), hydrogen sulfide (H ₂ S), trimethylamine (TMA), formaldehyde (HCHO), and methanethiol (CH ₃ SH). Gut microbial metabolism of TMA likely provides a low-deuterium source of one-carbon (1C) units to fuel the methylation pathway in the host. The glutamate-glutamine exchange that takes place between astrocytes and neurons plausibly capitalizes on NH ₃ to preferentially deliver ¹ H (protons) to neuronal mitochondria. Red blood cells actively import NH ₃ while the cation NH ₄ ⁺ is excreted in the urine, possibly as a strategy to fractionate out deuterium. In this paper, we investigate how small molecular hydrogen-containing gases are handled in metabolism, from a perspective that considers that these gases may serve a useful role in reducing the deuterium content in the mitochondria. Our hypothesis awaits validation by expert researchers who can perform appropriate experiments to test the hypothesis.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Stephanie Seneff"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/426swzgac9ty2.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fmicb.2026.1933444",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13691478/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "426swzgac9ty2",
  "issns": [
    "1664-302X"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1933444/full",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3003|Chemical Reactions and Isotopes"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221153939",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13691478/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13691478",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-09",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/426swzgac9ty2.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:12Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fmicb.2026.1933444",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1933444/full"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:59Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13691478",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13691478"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:3003|Chemical Reactions and Isotopes",
      "subfield": "pharmacology-toxicology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Do small hydrogen-containing gas molecules support low deuterium in mitochondrial water?",
  "title_text": "Do small hydrogen-containing gas molecules support low deuterium in mitochondrial water?",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/426swzgac9ty2",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Microbiology",
  "versions": []
}