Halogenated compounds as inducers of lipid peroxidation in tissue slices.

Twenty-seven halogenated compounds were screened as potential inducers of lipid peroxidation in rat liver, kidney, spleen, and testes slices. In addition to the known lipid peroxidation inducers--carbon tetrachloride and bromotrichloromethane--the novel compounds carbon tetrabromide, p-bromobenzyl bromide, and benzyl bromide increased lipid peroxidation in each of the tissues studied. Lipid peroxidation was measured by release of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) from the tissue slices. The amount of TBARS released from liver slices incubated with bromotrichloromethane, carbon tetrabromide, dichloromethane, bromobenzene, chloroform, bromoform, benzyl chloride, bromochloromethane, and carbon tetrabromide correlated with the lethality of these compounds as evaluated by their oral LD50 in rats. The lethality of a number of the compounds tested did not correlate with their capacity to induce lipid peroxidation.