Abstract
The effects of membrane lipid peroxidation and retinyl palmitate on rat liver microsomal functions were investigated in vitro. Rat liver homogenates exposed to oxygen tension for 0, 3, 6, 9 or12 hours and lipid peroxidation levels were evaluated by the measurements of fluorescence intensity, malondialdehyde (MDA) and retinyl palmitate. The fluorescence intensity of homogenates and microsomes were elevated and retinyl palmitate concentrations were decreased. But the concentration of MDA was not affected to exposure time. Therefore, fluorescence intensity and retinyl palmitate concentration were used to analyze the correlation between lipid peroxidation and microsomal functions. To investigate the liver microsomal functions, the microsome was isolated from rat liver homogenates exposed to oxygen. The concentration of cytochrome P450 and the activity of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase in liver microsomes were gradually decreased with increasing the exposure time. The correlation between fluorescence intensity of microsomes showed a very high inverse correlation of -0.97 and -0.93, respectively. The decrease of cytochrome P450 concentration was due to the regeneration of cytochrome P450 to cytochrome P420. Also, the activities of cytochrome P450-dependent aminopyrine demethylase and benzpyrene hydroxylase of liver microsomes were gradually decreased with increasing the exposure time. The correlation with fluorescence intensity of microsome showed a high inverse correlation of -0.97 and -0.91, respectively. The retinyl palmitate concentrations of rat liver homogenates were decreased with increasing the exposure time. The decrease of retinyl palmitate concentration was followed by a low concentration of cytochrome P450 and activity of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase. The correlation indicated high direct correlation of 0.92 and 0.93, respectively. The decrease of retinyl palmitate concentration was also accompanied by the reduction of aminopyrine demethylase and benzpyrene hydroxylase activities. The correlation was analyzed a high direct correlation of 0.90 and 0.85, respectively. In conclusion, these studies have shown that the membrane lipid peroxidation of rat liver microsome proportionally decreased microsomal enzyme activities in vitro experiments.