Copper status and adriamycin treatment: effects on antioxidant status in mice

The biochemical response of Cu-sufficient and Cu-deficient mice to adriamycin (ADR) treatment was evaluated. Mice were injected intraperitoneally with ADR (17 mg/kg body wt.) or saline (0.9% w/v) and killed 4 d after injection. There was no effect of ADR on cardiac superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in Cu-sufficient of Cu-deficient mice. ADR injection resulted in higher cardiac glutathione (GSH) concentrations in Cu-sufficient mice while it resulted in lower GSH concentrations in Cu-deficient mice relative to their saline-injected controls. The effects of ADR in Cu-deficient mice were tissue-specific as its administration resulted in lower hepatic SOD activity and higher hepatic GSH concentrations relative to saline-injected controls.