Effect of acute ethanol intoxication on the content of reduced glutathione of the liver in relation to its lipoperoxidative capacity in the rat

Abstract

Glutathione is considered to be the most abundant and important intracellular sulfhydryl compound [ 1.21. Both reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) glutathione are related to several structural and func- tional processes of the cell, and are involved in the protective mechanisms against the deleterious effects of several agents and/or their metabolites [2]. The later function of glutathione has been proposed to be accomplished by either the formation of excretable conjugates [3] or by its participation in the metabolism of peroxides arising from the enhancement of lipo- peroxidative processes [4]. Lipoperoxidation, the oxidative alteration of poly- unsaturated fatty acids that seems to be of importance in the production of liver injury by some hepato- toxins [5,6], has been shown to be increased in the liver following acute [7-l 0] and chronic [8,1 l-141 alcohol ingestion. However, this finding has not been confirmed in the acute model [ 15 171. This report describes the influences of the sex, nutritional status, dosage and the period of intoxication of animals given alcohol acutely on the content of GSH of the liver in relation to its lipoperoxidative capacity. The effect of alcohol on the activity of the enzymes of peroxide metabolism, the other main contributors to the maintenance of the antioxygenic capacity of the hepatocyte [1,4,18], is dealt with in [19]. 2.