Evaluation of adriamycin-induced lipid peroxidation.

Lipid peroxidation is known to be a mechanism for Adriamycin-induced toxicity. In the present study, two methods which detect fluorescent substances and high molecular weight protein aggregates in peroxidized membranes were applied to Adriamycin-induced lipid peroxidation in liver microsomes. A rat liver microsomal suspension containing an NADPH-generating system was incubated with Adriamycin. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBA-RS), formed during this incubation, were transferred from the microsomes to the medium. Fluorescent substances determined by the fluorescence emitted from both the microsomes themselves and the chloroform/methanol extracts of the microsomes, were found to be formed during this incubation. High molecular weight protein aggregates determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, were also formed. Fluorescent substances and high molecular weight protein aggregates were found in microsomal membranes themselves and increased time dependently. These substances retained in membranes can be of great use to delineate the site of Adriamycin-induced lipid peroxidation in vitro and in vivo and to determine how this lipid peroxidation affects the membrane.