Stimulated chemiluminescence in several models of oxidative stress

It had been suggested that increased chemiluminescence, stimulated by tertiary-butylhydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) resulted from tissues which had undergone previous oxidative stress. Therefore, we tested animals subjected to various conditions generally regarded to cause oxidative stress, then removed relevant target organs and measured t-BuOOH stimulated (and unstimulated) chemiluminescence from biopsy sized samples of these tissues. The conditions chosen included 5000 rads whole body irradiation, hyperoxia, ischaemia-reperfusion and chronic indomethacin (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) treatment, with determination of chemiluminescence from samples of stomach and thymus after irradiation, brain and lungs after hyperoxia, kidney and stomach following ischaemia-reperfusion, and ileum and jejunum after chronic indomethacin administration. Neutrophils were also measured in the latter model. We cannot substantiate the claim that t-BuOOH stimulated chemiluminescence is a reliable indicator that a tissue has undergone oxidative stress. Large increases in stimulated chemiluminescence occurred only in frankly ulcerated tissue of the gastrointestinal tract and this enhanced chemiluminescence may be associated with increased neutrophils infiltrating the ulcer site.