Lipid peroxidation in neonatal rat heart cell cultures: effects of cumene hydroperoxide.

In this study neonatal rat heart cell cultures were evaluated on their potential merit for studying the oxidative component in the cardiotoxic action of drugs. Cumene hydroperoxide was used as a model compound. Cumene hydroperoxide induced enzyme release from the myocyte cultures which appeared to be both dose- and substrate(glucose)-dependent. Significant correlations were found between depletion of GSH and increased GSSG formation on the one hand and enzyme release on the other hand. Furthermore the formation of malondialdehyde, one of the products of lipid peroxidation, was measured, which correlated with enzyme release as well. Measurements on the release of the mitochondrial isoenzyme of aspartate aminotransferase imply that the lipid peroxidative process affects primarily the sarcolemmal membrane. The results indicate that myocytes in culture can provide a convenient in vitro system to assess the peroxidative action of cardiotoxic agents.