Differences in the lipid peroxidative status, cytochrome P-450 content and microsomal oxygen consumption between right and left lobes of the liver in fetal sheep. Comparison with maternal liver.

The existence of the ductus venosus in mammalian fetal liver determines a different blood flow in the right and left lobes. This asymmetry is associated to a decrease in oxygen delivery to the right lobe. Some stages in oxygen metabolism are related to the formation of free radicals that can induce cellular damage dependent on the tissue oxygen concentration and on the activity of the enzymatic and non enzymatic systems involved in the tissue protection. In the present study, the differences in the lipid peroxidative status and some parameters related to the protection against oxygen toxicity between both lobes in the sheep fetal liver were analyzed and compared to the same parameters in the dam liver.