Enzymatic defenses of the rat heart against lipid peroxidation.

Normal ageing is associated with different changes in the cardiovascular system that lead to an increase in pathological processes such as hypertension and heart failure. Therefore the importance of glutathione peroxidase and catalase for protection against peroxidation was studied in the rat heart. Each of the these enzymes was regulated by feeding rats a low selenium diet either unsupplemented or supplemented with 0.4 parts per million of selenium, with or without the catalase inhibitor, sodium fluoride, in their drinking water. After 2 months, selenium deficient rats had 87% reductions in mitochondrial and cytosolic glutathione peroxidase activities. These reductions were accompanied by increased peroxidation in heart homogenates and mitochondrial suspensions. Since increased mitochondrial peroxidation only occurred when both the cytosolic and mitochondrial glutathione peroxidase activities were involved, these selenoenzymes appear to work in tandem and reductions in both are a prerequisite for increased peroxidation in the heart. Peroxidation did not occur in sodium fluoride treated rats even though cytosolic catalase activity was inhibited by 70%. Moreover, inhibition of catalase activity did not exacerbate the level of peroxidation in selenium deficient rats depleted of glutathione peroxidase activity. Because increased peroxidation was only associated with reductions in glutathione peroxidase activity irrespective of catalase activity, the selenoenzyme appears to be more important for detoxification of hydrogen peroxide in the heart.