Paraquat and ferritin-dependent lipid peroxidation.

A lipid peroxidation system consisting of phospholipid liposomes, paraquat, ADP, and NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase was constituted using ferritin as the sole source of iron. Lipid peroxidation was completely inhibited by superoxide dismutase, essentially not affected by mannitol, but markedly stimulated by catalase. Similar effects of these scavenging agents were observed in incubations void of ADP. These data suggest that O2-, produced by the redox cycling of paraquat, can release iron from ferritin and thereby promote lipid peroxidation. The effects of catalase and mannitol suggest that the initiation of peroxidation, in either the presence or absence of ADP, is not significantly dependent upon the hydroxyl radical produced via an iron-catalyzed Haber-Weiss reaction.