Urinary aldehydes as indicators of lipid peroxidation in vivo

The excretion of malondialdehyde (MDA), lipophilic aldehydes and related carbonyl compounds in rat and human urine was investigated. MDA was found to be excreted mainly in the form of two adducts with lysine, indicating that its predominant reaction in vivo is with the lysine residues of proteins. Adducts with the phospholipid bases serine and ethanolamine and the nucleic acid bases guanine and deoxyguanosine also were found. Except for the adduct with deoxyguanosine (dG-MDA), the excretion of these compounds increased with peroxidative stress imposed in the form of vitamin E deficiency or the administration of iron or carbon tetrachloride. Marked differences in the concentration of dG-MDA in different tissues were correlated with their content of fatty acids having three or more double bonds, the putative source of MDA. Fourteen nonpolar and eleven polar lipophilic aldehydes and other carbonyl compounds were identified as their 2,4-diphenylhydrazine derivatives in rat urine. The excretion of five nonpolar and nine polar compounds was increased under conditions of peroxidative stress. The profile of lipophilic aldehydes obtained for human urine resembled that for rat urine. Except for a reported 4-hydroxynon-2-enal conjugate with mercapturic acid, the conjugated forms of the lipophilic aldehydes excreted in urine remain unidentified. Aldehyde excretion is influenced by numerous factors that affect the formation of lipid peroxides in vivo such as energy status, physical activity and environmental temperature, as well as by wide variations in the intake of peroxides in the diet. Consequently, urinalysis for aldehydic products of lipid peroxidation is an unreliable indicator of the general state of peroxidative stress in vivo.