Impact of hypercholesterolemia on in vitro toxicity of N-nitrosodiethylamine: effect on lipidperoxidation of blood and tissue.

In vitro treatment of erythrocytes of normal and hypercholesterolemic rats with N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), an important carcinogen frequently present in human environment and food chain resulted in a marginal increase in osmotic fragility of erythrocytes without affecting their antioxygenic potential as evidenced by insignificant effect on lipid peroxidation (LPO). However, (LPO) of all the tissues (heart, lung, liver, kidney and spleen) increased significantly on in vitro treatment with NDEA. The effects were different in different tissues under different dietary conditions