The effect of selenium on the tissue sulfhydryl group content and lipid peroxide-destorying enzyme system in the liver, kidney and testis of rat treated with mercury was investigated. The male rats were injected s.c. with HgCl2 (10 micromoles/kg BW) and orally received Na2SeO3 (13 micromoles/kg BW) simultaneously. After 3 days, liver, kidney and testis were removed and analyzed. Mercury decreased the total sulfhydryl group content in the kidney by 25% and the total glutathione content in the kidney and testis by 50% and 36%, respectively, with no changes in other tissues. There was 12% increase in the total sulfhydryl group but not in the total glutathione content in kidney by a simul-taneous treatment of Se and Hg. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were decreased by 63% in the liver and 69% in the kidney, and glutathione reductase (GSH-Rd) activity was increased in the tests by 16% by the Hg treatment with no changes in Other tissues. Hg had no effect upon glutathione-S-transferase activities in all organs examined. Simultaneous Se treatment increased GSH-Rd activity in the kidney by 23% and GSH-Px activities in liver and kidney by 24% and 21%, respectively, compared to the Hg-treated group. These data indicate that the alleviation of Hg toxicity by Se treatment is well correlated with the protein sulfhydryl group content and GSH-Px activity.
Animal ; Glutathione/metabolism* ; Glutathione Peroxidase/analysis ; Glutathione Reductase/analysis ; Male ; Mercury/toxicity* ; Rats ; Selenium/pharmacology* ; Sulfhydryl Compounds/analysis*

An experiment was conducted in order to investigate the effect of p-dimethylaminoazobenzene (DAB) and 2(3)-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA) on the lipid peroxidation and peroxide-destroying enzyme system in the rat liver. Dietary supplementation of DAB (0.06%) for three weeks caused the elevation of glutathione-S-transferase activity by 60% and glutathione reductase by 50%, but it decreased glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities significantly. Dietary supplementation of BHA (0.75%) also increased glutatione-S-transferase activity in the liver by 2 folds, and it counteracts DAB effect on the glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities. There was a marked increase in malon-dialdehyde content in the postnuclear fraction of liver by the treatment of DAB, but the addition of BHA lowered the malondialdehyde content to almost the control level. The protective effect of BHA on the lipid peroxidation induced by DAB administration at the enzyme level seems to be due to the induction of glutathione-S-transferase and the protection of glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities from being lowered by DAB administration.
Animal ; Anisoles/pharmacology* ; Butylated Hydroxyanisole/pharmacology* ; Glutathione Peroxidase/analysis* ; Glutathione Reductase/analysis* ; Glutathione Transferase/analysis* ; Lipid Peroxides/metabolism* ; Liver/drug effects* ; Liver/metabolism ; Male ; Peroxidases/analysis* ; Rats ; p-Dimethylaminoazobenzene/pharmacology*

This study was undertaken to investigate the antioxidant/oxidant status in recurrent miscarriage patients. Antioxidants including glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), reduced glutathione (GSH) and selenium (Se), as well as the oxidants hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), oxidised glutathione (GSSG) and lipid peroxidation were assayed in plasma, whole blood and placental tissue of non-pregnant women (NP), healthy pregnant women (HP), and recurrent miscarriage (RM) patients. Results indicated that all antioxidant activities and levels in plasma and whole blood of HP women were consistently moderately lower, and much more significantly lower in RM patients when both were compared to those seen in NP women (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). Furthermore, whereas plasma antioxidant activities and levels were significantly lower in RM patients, those of whole blood and placental tissue were much more significantly lower when compared with HP women (P<0.001). Concurrent with these findings there were consistent increases of equal statistical significance and magnitude in the levels of all investigated oxidants assayed in all samples when compared in between subjects of the study as indicated above. Data thus illustrated a distinct shift in favor of oxidative reactions and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and very significant decreases in the GSH/GSSG ratios in whole blood and placental tissue of RM patients when compared to HP and NP women (P<0.001). The above noted oxidative stress could have been a major causative factor of recurrent miscarriage.
Abortion, Habitual/*blood/*epidemiology ; Adult ; Antioxidants/analysis ; Biomarkers/*blood ; Catalase/blood ; Female ; Glutathione/blood ; Glutathione Peroxidase/blood ; Glutathione Reductase/blood ; Humans ; Hydrogen Peroxide/analysis ; Lipid Peroxidation ; *Oxidative Stress ; Placenta/metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism ; Saudi Arabia/epidemiology ; Selenium/blood