Oxidizability of cardiac cardiolipin in Triton X-100 micelles as determined by using a Clark electrode.

The kinetics of the chain free-radical oxidation of cardiolipin (CL), a unique phospholipid containing four linoleate moieties, have been studied for the first time. The technique based on monitoring oxygen consumption by using a Clark electrode was applied to determine the oxidizability of CL during its initiated oxidation in aqueous Triton X-100 micelles in 50mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.40, at 37 degrees C. The oxidizability was characterized by the k(2)/(sqrt[2k(3)]) ratio, where k(2) and k(3) are the rate constants for the reaction of chain propagation (LO(2)+LH-->LOOH+L) and chain termination (2LO(2)-->products), correspondingly. The oxidizability of CL (in M(-0.5)s(-0.5)) was found to be of 0.62+/-0.07 (calculated on the basis of a single linoleate fragment) that is twice as much than the oxidizability of methyl linoleate (0.32+/-0.04) determined in the same testing systems. It has been shown that the increase in k(2)/(sqrt[2k(3)]) by a factor of two when going from the oxidation of ML to that of CL is almost completely determined by the increase in k(2).