Electron spin resonance study of free radicals produced from ethanol and acetaldehyde after exposure to a Fenton system or to brain and liver microsomes.

Free radical formation from ethanol and acetaldehyde was studied in the presence of a spin-trap and a NADPH generating system with a chemical model, Fenton's reagent, or by enzymatic oxidation of these solvents by rat liver and brain microsomes. The free radicals were detected by electron spin resonance spectroscopy (E.S.R.), using the spin-trapping agent, alpha-(4-pyridyl l-oxide)-N-tertbutyl-nitrone (POBN). Under such conditions, the hydroxyethyl radical derived from ethanol was obtained after both incubation in liver and brain microsomes as well as after exposure to the Fenton system. Enzymatic inhibition and activation showed that the mixed function oxidase system plays an important role in the generation of such a radical, even in the brain. Under all the experimental conditions acetaldehyde could also generate a free radical deriving directly from the parent molecule and modified by enzymatic activation or inhibition. A second, longer lasting radical was also observed in the presence of acetaldehyde. On the basis of a comparative study to a known process causing lipoperoxidation, its lipidic origin was suggested.