[Lipid peroxidation in the rat liver following skeletal injury]

We assessed the concentrations of the products of lipid peroxidation (conjugated dienes--CD, malone dialdegide--MDA), the activity of catalase and the total lipids in the rat liver following tibial fractures. The experiment was carried out using sixty adult male Wistar rats. In group 1 (n = 30), tibial fractures were modeled and fixed with the apparatus of external fixation. In control group 2 (n = 30), the external apparatus was applied to the tibias but the fractures were not modeled. In group 1 animals, the absolute concentrations of CD and MDA were statistically reduced at each time-point studied. The concentration of CD in group 2 was significantly lower on day 3 while the level of MDA up to day 14 of the experiment than in the intact rats. The level of total lipids on days 3 and 7 was decreased in group 1 while in group 2 it was lower than the intact values on days 3 through 14. The catalase activity in group 1 was statistically elevated from day 7 of the experiment as compared to the intact rats. No significant changes in the activity of catalase were found in group 2 at all time-points of the experiment.