The role of iron in t-butyl hydroperoxide-induced lipid peroxidation and hepatotoxicity in rats

Treatment of rats with 100 mg kg−1t-butyl hydroperoxide led to an enhanced ethane exhalation as a marker of in vivo lipid peroxidation, as well as a moderate hepatoxicity as evidenced by a rise in plasma activities of liver-specific enzymes (glutamate-pyruvate transaminase and sorbitol dehydrogenase) and an increase in hepatic calcium content. Furthermore, a depletion of hepatic glutathione by 17% was observed. Apart from the loss of glutathione, all these effects were antagonized by pretreatment of rats with the potent iron chelator deferrioxamine and potentiated by pretreatment with low concentrations of FeSO4 having no pro-oxidant activity per se; this was also the case in rats under conditions of iron overload (experimental haemochromatosis). These data indicate a close relationship between t-butyl hydroperoxide-induced lipid peroxidation and its hepatotoxicity, and point out the importance of iron in catalysing reinitiation (propagation) reactions of lipid peroxidation in vivo.