1. Liver microsomes form lipid peroxide when incubated with ascorbate or NADPH, but not with NADH. Increasing the concentration of ascorbate beyond the optimum (05mM) decreases the rate of lipid peroxide formation, but this effect does not occur with NADPH. Other reducing agents such as p-phenylenediamine or ferricyanide were not able to replace ascorbate and induce lipid peroxide formation. 2. The rate of ascorbate-induced peroxidation is optimum at pH 6-0 whereas the rate of the NADPH system is optimum at pH7-0. Both systems require phosphate for maximum activity. 3. Lipid peroxide formation occurs at the maximum specific rate in very dilute microsome suspensions (0-15mg. of protein/ ml.). 4. Treatment of microsomes with deoxycholate and other detergents causes membrane disintegration and inhibits lipid peroxide formation. 5. Lipid peroxide formation is accompanied by a rapid uptake of oxygen and there is a large excess of oxygen utilized for each molecule of malonaldehyde measured in the peroxide method. 6. Boiled microsomes form lipid peroxide in the presence of ascorbate, but not if NADPH is added. 7. Lipid peroxide formation induced by NADPH is strongly inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzoate, weakly inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide and unaffected by iodoacetamide. Ascorbate-induced peroxidation in untreated microsomes is unaffected by p-chloromercuribenzoate, but inhibited if boiled microsomes are used. These experiments may be interpreted on the basis that a ferredoxin-type protein forms part of the system in which NADPH induces lipid peroxide formation. 8. Most heavy-metal ions, with the exception of inorganic iron (Fe2+ or Fes+), which activates, inhibit both ascorbate-induced and NADPHinduced peroxidation. Mg2+ increases the rate ofperoxidation whereas Ca2+ inhibits it. 9. Lipid peroxide formation is inhibited strongly by GSH and weakly by cysteine. Ascorbate-induced peroxidation is much more sensitive than NADPH-induced peroxidation. 10. Peroxidation is strongly inhibited by addition of low concentrations (O-01-0-1 Mr) of cytocbrome c or ofhaemoglobin. 11. It is considered that lipid peroxide formation occurs as a result of the operation of the microsomal electrontransport chain switching from hydroxylation to oxidize unsaturated lipids of the endoplasmic reticulum.

No abstract

1. Metal ion-chelating agents such as EDTA, o-phenanthroline or desferrioxamine inhibit lipid peroxide formation when rat liver microsomes prepared from homogenates made in pure sucrose are incubated with ascorbate or NADPH. 2. Microsomes treated with metal ion-chelating agents do not form peroxide on incubation unless inorganic iron (Fe(2+) or Fe(3+)) in a low concentration is added subsequently. No other metal ion can replace inorganic iron adequately. 3. Microsomes prepared from sucrose homogenates containing EDTA (1mm) do not form lipid peroxide on incubation with ascorbate or NADPH unless Fe(2+) is added. Washing the microsomes with sucrose after preparation restores most of the capacity to form lipid peroxide. 4. Lipid peroxide formation in microsomes prepared from sucrose is stimulated to a small extent by inorganic iron but to a greater extent if adenine nucleotides, containing iron compounds as a contaminant, are added. 5. The iron contained in normal microsome preparations exists in haem and in non-haem forms. One non-haem component in which the iron may be linked to phosphate is considered to be essential for both the ascorbate system and NADPH system that catalyse lipid peroxidation in microsomes.

No abstract

1. Aminopyrine strongly inhibits NADPH-induced lipid peroxide formation in rat liver microsomes, but ascorbate-induced peroxidation is inhibited to a smaller extent. 2. Aminopyrine oxidation is stimulated by Mg(2+) but inhibited by Ca(2+). Concentrated solutions (10mm) of iron-chelating agents inhibit aminopyrine oxidation, but the more dilute solutions (0.5mm) of chelators that block lipid peroxide formation do not inhibit aminopyrine oxidation. Microsomes prepared from sucrose-EDTA homogenates rapidly oxidize aminopyrine, but do not form lipid peroxide when incubated with ascorbate or NADPH. 3. Aminopyrine oxidation is strongly inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzoate, less by iodoacetamide and weakly by N-ethylmaleimide. The site of action of these compounds is considered to be a ferredoxin-type protein. GSH and cysteine also inhibit. 4. Other drugs oxidized by microsomes such as caffeine, phenobarbitone and hexobarbitone had either no or little effect on lipid peroxide formation, but codeine inhibited. 5. Most aliphatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, ketones and aldehydes did not affect lipid peroxide formation, but chloroform and carbon tetrachloride inhibited. 6. Many aromatic compounds inhibited lipid peroxide formation. Only aromatic acids were without any effect and phenols and amines were very strong inhibitors. 7. Induction of lipid peroxide formation in microsomes by incubation with ascorbate or NADPH or by treatment with ionizing radiation leads to a sharp decline in the ability of microsomes to oxidize aminopyrine or hydroxylate aniline. 8. It is considered that the two processes of hydroxylation and lipid peroxide formation are closely linked in microsomes. They probably depend on the same electron-transport chain, and peroxide formation, which involves membrane disintegration, may be part of the normal membrane remodelling process.

The fatty acid compositions of the lipids and the lipid peroxide concentrations and rates of lipid peroxidation were determined in suspensions of liver endoplasmic reticulum isolated from rats fed on synthetic diets in which the fatty acid composition had been varied but the remaining constituents (protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals) kept constant. Stock diet and synthetic diets containing no fat, 10% corn oil, herring oil, coconut oil or lard were used. The fatty acid composition of the liver endoplasmic reticulum lipid was markedly dependent on the fatty acid composition of the dietary lipid. Feeding a herring-oil diet caused incorporation of 8.7% eicosapentaenoic acid (C(20:5)) and 17% docosahexaenoic acid (C(22:6)), but only 5.1% linoleic acid (C(18:2)) and 6.4% arachidonic acid (C(20:4)), feeding a corn-oil diet caused incorporation of 25.1% C(18:2), 17.8% C(20:4) and 2.5% C(22:6) fatty acids, and feeding a lard diet caused incorporation of 10.3% C(18:2), 13.5% C(20:4) and 4.3% C(22:6) fatty acids into the liver endoplasmic-reticulum lipids. Phenobarbitone injection (100mg/kg) decreased the incorporation of C(20:4) and C(22:6) fatty acids into the liver endoplasmic reticulum of rats fed on a lard, corn-oil or herring-oil diet. Microsomal lipid peroxide concentrations and rates of peroxidation in the presence of ascorbate depended on the nature and quantity of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet. The lipid peroxide content was 1.82+/-0.30nmol of malonaldehyde/mg of protein and the rate of peroxidation was 0.60+/-0.08nmol of malonaldehyde/min per mg of protein after feeding a fat-free diet, and the values were increased to 20.80nmol of malonaldehyde/mg of protein and 3.73nmol of malonaldehyde/min per mg of protein after feeding a 10% herring-oil diet in which polyunsaturated fatty acids formed 24% of the total fatty acids. Addition of alpha-tocopherol to the diets (120mg/kg of diet) caused a very large decrease in the lipid peroxide concentration and rate of lipid peroxidation in the endoplasmic reticulum, but addition of the synthetic anti-oxidant 2,6-di-t-butyl-4-methylphenol to the diet (100mg/kg of diet) was ineffective. Treatment of the animals with phenobarbitone (1mg/ml of drinking water) caused a sharp fall in the rate of lipid peroxidation. It is concluded that the polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of the diet regulates the fatty acid composition of the liver endoplasmic reticulum, and this in turn is an important factor controlling the rate and extent of lipid peroxidation in vitro and possibly in vivo.

1. Induction of the formation of lipid peroxide in suspensions of liver microsomal preparations by incubation with ascorbate or NADPH, or by treatment with ionizing radiation, leads to a marked decrease of the activity of glucose 6-phosphatase. 2. The effect of peroxidation can be imitated by treating microsomal suspensions with detergents such as deoxycholate or with phospholipases. 3. The substrate, glucose 6-phosphate, protects the glucose 6-phosphatase activity of microsomal preparations against peroxidation or detergents. 4. The loss of glucose 6-phosphatase activity is not due to the formation of hydroperoxide or formation of malonaldehyde or other breakdown products of peroxidation, all of which are not toxic to the enzyme. 5. All experiments lead to the conclusion that the loss of activity of glucose 6-phosphatase resulting from peroxidation is a consequence of loss of membrane structure essential for the activity of the enzyme. 6. In addition to glucose 6-phosphatase, oxidative demethylation of aminopyrine or p-chloro-N-methylaniline, hydroxylation of aniline, NADPH oxidation and menadione-dependent NADPH oxidation are also strongly inhibited by peroxidation. However, another group of enzymes separated with the microsomal fraction, including NAD(+)/NADP(+) glycohydrolase, adenosine triphosphatase, esterase and NADH-cytochrome c reductase are not inactivated by peroxidation. This group is not readily inactivated by treatment with detergents. 7. Lipid peroxidation, by controlling membrane integrity, may exert a regulating effect on the oxidative metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism of the endoplasmic reticulum in vivo.

No abstract