Partial characterization of haemolytic lipids from peroxidized rat liver microsomes

Toxic substances are generated by microsomes undergoing NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation. In the present experiments the nature of the haemolytic material extracted from peroxidized microsomes is further examined. Suspensions of peroxidized rat liver microsomes were extracted with lipid solvents and the haemolytic material obtained subjected to gel exclusion chromatography. The haemolytic activity eluted as a single broad peak with an average size of 720 daltons. There was no evidence of haemolytic compounds less than 500 daltons. On a silicic acid column the activity eluted with the phospholipid. In both separations the presence of haemolytic activity correlated well with the peroxide content.