Free radical formation in vivo and hepatotoxicity due to anesthesia with halothane

In vivo studies were undertaken to determine whether free radical formation in the liver during administration of various halogenated anesthetics is associated with hepatotoxicity of these agents in an animal model. In addition to the anesthetics halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane, carbon tetrachloride was studied as an example of a hepatotoxic halogenated compound acting by a free radical mechanism. Free radicals were trapped in vivo during anesthesia as stable adducts using the spin trap, alpha-phenyl-t-butyl nitrone. These adducts were extracted from the liver and studied by electron spin resonance spectrometry. Free radicals were detected after administration of halothane or carbon tetrachloride, compounds which were hepatotoxic under the conditions of the experiment, but were not found after anesthesia induced with enflurane or isoflurane, anesthetics which were not hepatotoxic under identical conditions. The free radical trapped after alpha-phenyl-t-butyl nitrone treatment of halothane-anesthetized rats appeared to be a metabolic intermediate of halothane.