The measurement of lipid peroxidation in isolated hepatocytes

Different techniques for the measurement of lipid peroxidation in isolated hepatocytes have been compared. Measurements of ethane production, chemiluminescence and fluorescent products correlated extremely well with those of malondialdehyde formation. Of the five different techniques studied, measurements of ethane production and chemiluminescence were found to the the most sensitive indices of lipid peroxidation. Incubation of hepatocytes for up to 4 hr in the presence of ethylmorphine and aminopyrine, at concentrations known to stimulate H2O2 production, completely failed to increase the amount of chemiluminescence, malondialdehyde or ethane produced in these cells, indicating that the drug-stimulated production of H2O2 did not lead to an increased rate of lipid peroxidation, as cells under the experimental conditions employed. The relationship between lipid peroxidation, as measured by chemiluminescence and ethane production, and the cytotoxic effects of bromobenzene and carbon tetrachloride has also been studied. The results obrained further indicate that lipid peroxidation is an important even in carbon tetrachloride hepatotoxicity, but that it appears to be only a subsequent event in bromobenzene toxicity, possibly occurring only as a result of glutathione depletion and cell death.