Spin trapping of free radicals produced in vivo in heart and liver during endotoxemia.

Studies using free radical scavengers and measurements of lipid peroxidation have suggested that free radicals are generated during endotoxemia. Conclusions from these studies have implied that free radicals may participate in the sequence of pathologic events following endotoxin challenge in the experimental animal. Current inferences of free radical generation and involvement have been derived from indirect evidence and are therefore inconclusive. To quantitate the generation of free radicals in vivo during endotoxemia this study employed the use of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) combined with spin trapping techniques. Five minutes before intraperitoneal endotoxin administration, trimethoxy-a-phenyl-t-butyl-nitrone [(MeO)3 PBN] was administered intraperitoneally. Experimental animals were always matched with control animals receiving no endotoxin. At either five minutes or twenty-five minutes following endotoxin administration animals were decapitated and hearts and livers were rapidly taken for lipid extraction and EPR evaluation. Analysis of the EPR spectra revealed hyperfine splitting constants that indicated the presence of carbon-centered radical spin adducts in both organ tissues from animals exposed to endotoxin for twenty-five minutes. No signals were present in hearts and livers taken five minutes after endotoxin administration. EPR evaluation did not indicate spin adduct formation in control tissue. These data directly demonstrate that activation of processes in vivo involving free radical generation occur early during endotoxemia, but are not detectable immediately after the endotoxin challenge.