Lipid peroxidation: a possible mechanism for paraquat toxicity.

The toxicity of the herbicide paraquat in mice, measured by the single dose lethal to 50 per cent of the animals after 7 days, was significantly enhanced by prior exposure to diets deficient in selenium or vitamin E and by pretreatment with diethyl maleate. These data suggest lipid peroxidation to be an important in vivo biochemical mechanism of paraquat toxicity as both selenium and vitamin E have antioxidant functions.