Is malonaldehyde a valuable indicator of lipid peroxidation?

Malonaldehyde (MDA), a decomposition product of lipid hydroperoxides which is used as an indicator of oxidative damage to cells and tissues, reacts, in vitro, with hydrogen peroxide to form undetermined degradation products. Since human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) release reactive oxygen species including hydrogen peroxide when stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), we incubated specific amounts of MDA with resting PMNs and PMA-stimulated PMNs. The amount of MDA recovered after 30 min incubation with stimulated cells, as determined by MDA-thiobarbituric acid assay, was 25% lower than that recovered with resting cells. In the presence of catalase 18% of MDA disappeared and in the presence of superoxide dismutase 15% disappeared. This indicates that measurements of MDA production in living systems, in the presence of reactive oxygen species, could be underestimated.