Changes in the pattern of microsomal fatty acids in rat liver after thermal injury and therapeutic intervention

Despite substantial progress in handling the acute phase after thermal injury, severely burned patients still succumb to systemic sepsis as a consequence of a compromised defence system. It is likely that autotoxic mechanisms play an important role in the aetiology of the impaired host defence. One of the primary target systems of autotoxic cell damage is the liver. In the present work oxidative alterations in the microsomal compartment of liver cells have been investigated. It was found that thermal burns are associated with extensive oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids which can be antagonized by antioxidants such as silibinin.