Antiarrhythmic agents. Scavengers of hydroxyl radicals and inhibitors of NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation in bovine lung microsomes.

Antiarrhythmic drugs, e.g. lidocaine, quinidine, and procainamide have been suggested as a means of reducing myocardial damage. The mode of action of these drugs have been attributed to their "membrane-stabilizing" properties. However, as tissue ischemia reperfusion is reported to generate toxic species of oxygen, we investigated the oxygen radical scavenging properties of these drugs and their effect on NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation. These antiarrhythmic drugs are found to be ineffective as superoxide radical scavengers but are potent scavengers of hydroxyl radical with rate constants of 1.8 x 10(10) M-1 s-1, 1.61 x 10(10) M-1 s-1, and 1.45 x 10(10) M-1 s-1 for quinidine, lidocaine and procainamide, respectively, as determined by deoxyribose assay. In EPR study, using 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) as a spin trap, lidocaine, quinidine, and procainamide caused a dose-dependent inhibition of DMPO-OH adduct formation. These drugs also caused a dose-dependent inhibition of NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation when lung microsomes were incubated with NADPH in presence of Fe(3+)-ADP. We propose that the antiarrhythmic agents exert their beneficial effects, in part, by their ability to scavenge toxic species of oxygen and by reducing membrane lipid peroxidation.