Reduced enzymatic antioxidant defense mechanism in kidney tissues from gentamicin-treated guinea pigs: effects of vitamins E and C.

In this study, the activities of major enzymes participating in free radical metabolism (xanthine oxidase, XO; Cu,Zn and Mn superoxide dismutases, SOD; glutathione peroxidase, GSH-Px; catalase, CAT) were measured in kidney tissues from guinea pigs treated with gentamicin alone (200 mg/kg/day), gentamicin plus vitamin C (600 mg/kg/day), gentamicin plus vitamin E (400 mg/kg/day), and gentamicin plus vitamins C and E together for 10 days, and from animals treated with physiological saline solution alone during this period. We found no significant differences between control and gentamicin groups with respect to XO and Cu,Zn-SOD activities. However, the activities of Mn-SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT were found to be significantly depressed in the gentamicin-treated group relative to controls. In the gentamicin plus vitamin C group, the renal tissue Mn-SOD activity was found to be higher as compared with control and gentamicin groups. In this group, XO, GSH-Px and CAT activities were also higher than in the gentamicin-treated group, but no statistically significant differences existed between the values of this group and controls. Similar results were also observed in the gentamicin plus vitamin E group for Mn-SOD, GSH-Px, CAT, and XO. In this group, the Cu,Zn-SOD activity was found to be decreased as compared with control and gentamicin groups. In the gentamicin plus vitamins C and E group, the Cu,Zn-SOD activity was found to be decreased, the XO activity to be unchanged, and Mn-SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT activities to be increased as compared with the gentamicin and control groups. The results suggest that the enzymatic antioxidant defense system was significantly disturbed because of the suppressed activities of Mn-SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT in the kidney tissues from animals treated with gentamicin. However, vitamins C and E given concurrently with gentamicin completely abrogated this enzymatic suppression.