[Chronic effects of ethylene oxide on glutathione content and lipid peroxidation in rat liver].

The present study was undertaken to investigate glutathione content and lipid peroxidation in rat livers after chronic inhalation of ethylene oxide. Male wistar rats were exposed to 500ppm ethylene oxide 6 hours a day 3 times a week for 13 weeks. In order to exclude the supressed gain of body weight, this study was done using pair-fed rats. Clinical investigation revealed that liver function was maintained at the normal levels. That is, both reduced and oxidized forms of glutathione in the liver were not changed after 40 hours exposure. However, the level of malondialdehyde in the liver homogenate increased to 54% of that of control animals. Among intracellular fractions, the increased level of malondialdehyde in the total cell reflects that of the microsomal fraction. This result indicates that ethylene oxide exposure enhanced lipid peroxidation in the microsomal fraction of the liver.