Free radicals are chemical species possessing an unpaired electron that can be considered as fragments of molecules and which are generally very reactive. They are produced continuously in cells either as accidental by-products of metabolism or deliberately during, for example, phagocytosis. The most important reactants in free radical biochemistry in aerobic cells are oxygen and its radical derivatives (superoxide and hydroxyl radical), hydrogen peroxide and transition metals. Cells have developed a comprehensive array of antioxidant defences to prevent free radical formation or limit their damaging effects. These include enzymes to decompose peroxides, proteins to sequester transition metals and a range of compounds to 'scavenge' free radicals. Reactive free radicals formed within cells can oxidise biomolecules and lead to cell death and tissue injury. Establishing the involvement of free radicals in the pathogenesis of a disease is extremely difficult due to the short lifetimes of these species.

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1. The general features of the reaction by which carbon tetrachloride stimulates lipid peroxidation have been elucidated in rat liver microsomal suspensions and in mixtures of microsomes plus cell sap. The production of lipid peroxides has been correlated with malonaldehyde production in the systems used. 2. The stimulation of malonaldehyde production by carbon tetrachloride requires a source of reduced NADP(+) and is dependent on the extent of the endogenous peroxidation of the microsomal membranes: if extensive endogenous peroxidation occurs during incubation then no stimulation by carbon tetrachloride is apparent. 3. The stimulation of malonaldehyde production by carbon tetrachloride has been shown to be proportional to the square root of the carbon tetrachloride concentration in the incubation mixture. It is concluded that the stimulation of malonaldehyde production by carbon tetrachloride results from an initiation process that is itself dependent on the homolytic dissociation of carbon tetrachloride to free-radical products. 4. The increased production of malonaldehyde due to carbon tetrachloride is accompanied by a decreased activity of glucose 6-phosphatase in rat liver microsomal suspensions. 5. The relative activities of bromotrichloromethane, fluorotrichloromethane and chloroform have been evaluated in comparison with the effects of carbon tetrachloride in increasing malonaldehyde production and in decreasing glucose 6-phosphatase activity. Bromotrichloromethane was more effective, and fluorotrichloromethane and chloroform were less effective, than carbon tetrachloride in producing these two effects. It is concluded that homolytic bond fission of the halogenomethanes is a requisite for the occurrence of the two effects observed in the endoplasmic reticulum.

1. Methods using t.l.c. and high-pressure liquid chromatography (h.p.l.c.) have been used to separate the complex variety of substances possessing a carbonyl function that are produced during lipid peroxidation. 2. The major type of lipid peroxidation studied was the ADP-Fe2+-stimulated peroxidation of rat liver microsomal phospholipids. Preliminary separation of the polar and non-polar products was achieved by t.l.c.: further separation and identification of individual components was performed by h.p.l.c. Estimations were performed on microsomal pellets and the supernatant mixture after incubation of microsomes for 30 min at 37 degrees C. 3. The polar fraction was larger than the non-polar fraction when expressed as nmol of carbonyl groups/g of liver. In the non-polar supernatant fraction the major contributors were n-alkanals (31% of the total), alpha-dicarbonyl compounds (22%) and 4-hydroxyalkenals (37%) with the extraction method used. 4. Major individual contributors to the non-polar fraction were found to be propanal, 4-hydroxynonenal, hexanal and oct-2-enal. Other components identified include butanal, pent-2-enal, hex-2-enal, hept-2-enal, 4-hydroxyoctenal and 4-hydroxyundecenal. The polar carbonyl fraction was less complex than the non-polar fraction, although the identities of the individual components have not yet been established. 5. Since these carbonyl compounds do not react significantly in the thiobarbituric acid reaction, which largely demonstrates the presence of malonaldehyde, it is concluded that considerable amounts of biologically reactive carbonyl derivatives are released in lipid peroxidation and yet may not be picked up by the thiobarbituric acid reaction.

The purpose of this study was to use a direct method, that of electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, to demonstrate that reperfusion after a period of ischemia results in a sudden increase in the production of free radicals in the myocardium. The isolated buffer-perfused rat heart was used with N-tert-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone (PBN) as a spin-trapping agent. Samples of coronary effluent were taken and extracted into toluene for detection of radical adducts by ESR spectroscopy. After 15 minutes of total, global ischemia, aerobic reperfusion resulted in a sudden burst of radical formation that peaked at 4 minutes. When hearts were reperfused with anoxic buffer, no dramatic increase in radical production was observed. Subsequent reintroduction of oxygen, however, resulted in an immediate burst of radical production of a similar magnitude to that seen in the wholly aerobic reperfusion experiments. The ESR signals obtained (aN = 13.60 G, aH = 1.56 G) are consistent with the spin-trapping by PBN of either a carbon-centered species or an alkoxyl radical, both of which could be formed by secondary reactions of initially-formed oxygen radicals with membrane lipid components.