The influence of paraquat on the in vitro oxygen consumption of rabbit lung.

The effects of paraquat on the aerobic metabolism of rabbit lung slices were investigated. The oxygen consumption of lung slices was examined at different oxygen tensions and in the presence or absence of glucose as substrate in a Krebs-Ringer phosphate medium. In an air phase, the oxygen consumption of control lung tissue with glucose in the medium was practically the same as the oxygen consumption without glucose over a 3-hour period. In a 100% oxygen phase, glucose induced a marked increase in oxygen uptake, which persisted for about 2 hours. Thereafter, a decrease occurred in oxygen consumption which was notably faster than that of lung tissue without added glucose. With 10 mM glucose in the medium, paraquat (10(-5)M and 10(-3)M) immediately stimulated the oxygen consumption of lung slices. Although the initial increase in aerobic metabolism seemed to be glucose-dependent, the secondary inhibitory effect of paraquat appeared to be of the same magnitude in the presence or absence of glucose. Both the initial stimulation as well as the secondary inhibition were much more pronounced in a 100% oxygen atmosphere than in an air phase. These results indicate that the rabbit lung is sensitive to paraquat toxicity in vitro, and confirm that oxygen and paraquat supplement each other's toxicity in the lung.