Influence of age, phenobarbital and beta-naphthoflavone on hepatic microsomal lipid peroxidation in rats.

The NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation is low in liver microsomes of newborns and increases to day 30 of life. Thereafter nearly no changes in lipid peroxidation occur. The relatively high rate of lipid peroxidation in fetal liver microsomes is of interest. The well known inducers of the monooxygenase system phenobarbital and beta-naphthoflavone change lipid peroxidation only in liver microsomes of newborns. Lipid peroxidation is connected with the formation of reactive oxygen species and organic radicals characterized by the chemiluminescence with the amplifiers luminol and lucigenin. Chemiluminescence increases with increasing age depending on the amplifier. Treatment of the animals with phenobarbital causes the most pronounced increase in chemiluminescence of the 10-day-old animals, independent of the amplifier used. beta-naphthoflavone leads to an increase in chemiluminescence in microsomes of all age groups investigated except the luminol chemiluminescence