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R -CH(SG) -CH2-COR. The forward reaction follows second order, the reverse reaction first order kinetics. It is assumed that this reaction reflects best the ability of conjugated carbonyls to inactivate SH groups in biological systems.2. The rate of forward reaction increases with pH approx. parallel with asH • Besides OH" ions also proton donors (e. g. buffers) increase the rate. The catalytic effect of pH and buffer is inter preted in view of the reaction mechanism.3. The equilibrium constants as well as the rate constants for forward (k t) and reverse reaction show an extreme variation depending on the carbonyl structure. Acrolein and methyl vinyl ketone (k t = 120 and 32 mol-1 sec-1 , resp.) react more rapidly than any other carbonyl to give very stable adducts (half-lives for reverse reaction 4.6 and 60.7 days, resp.). Somewhat less reactive are 4-hydroxy-2-alkenals and 4-ketopentenoic acid (k t between 1 and 3 mol-1 sec-1 ), but they also form very stable adducts showing half-lives between 3.4 and 19 days. All other carbonyl studied react either very slowly (e. g. citral, ethly crotonate, mesityl oxide, acrylic acid) or form very labile adducts (crotonal, pentenal, hexenal, 3-methyl-butenone). Comparing biological activities of con jugated carbonyls their reactivity towards HS (/cj) and the stability of the adducts must be con sidered.

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The metabolism of the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal and of several other related aldehydes by isolated hepatocytes and rat liver subcellular fractions has been investigated. Hepatocytes rapidly metabolize 4-hydroxynonenal in an oxygen-independent process with a maximum rate (depending on cell preparation) ranging from 130 to 230 nmol/min per 10(6) cells (average 193 +/- 50). The aldehyde is also rapidly utilized by whole rat liver homogenate and the cytosolic fraction (140 000 g supernatant) supplemented with NADH, whereas purified nuclei, mitochondria and microsomes supplemented with NADH show no noteworthy consumption of the aldehyde. In cytosol, the NADH-mediated metabolism of the aldehyde exhibits a 1:1 stoichiometry, i.e. 1 mol of NADH oxidized/mol of hydroxynonenal consumed, and the apparent Km value for the aldehyde is 0.1 mM. Addition of pyrazole (10 mM) or heat inactivation of the cytosol completely abolishes aldehyde metabolism. The various findings strongly suggest that hepatocytes and rat liver cytosol respectively convert 4-hydroxynonenal enzymically is the corresponding alcohol, non-2-ene-1,4-diol, according to the equation: CH3-[CH2]4-CH(OH)-CH = CH-CHO + NADH + H+----CH3-[CH2]4-CH(OH)-CH = CH-CH2OH + NAD+. The alcohol non-2-ene-1,4-diol has not yet been isolated from incubations with hepatocytes and liver cytosolic fractions, but was isolated in pure form from an incubation mixture containing 4-hydroxynonenal, isolated liver alcohol dehydrogenase and NADH and its chemical structure was confirmed by mass spectroscopy. Compared with liver, all other tissues possess only little ability to metabolize 4-hydroxynonenal, ranging from 0% (fat pads) to a maximal 10% (kidney) of the activity present in liver. The structure of the aldehyde has a strong influence on the rate and extent of its enzymic NADH-dependent reduction to the alcohol. The saturated analogue nonanal is a poor substrate and only a small proportion of it is converted to the alcohol. Similarly, nonenal is much less readily utilized as compared with 4-hydroxynonenal. The effective conversion of the cytotoxic 4-hydroxynonenal and other reactive aldehydes to alcohols, which are probably less toxic, could play a role in the general defence system of the liver against toxic products arising from radical-induced lipid peroxidation.

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