Evidence for 4-hydroxyalkenals in rat renal cortex peroxidized by N2-methyl-9-hydroxyellipticinium acetate or Celiptium.

The antitumor drug celiptium is an ellipticine derivative whose nephrotoxic pathogenesis implicates a lipid peroxidation process. It has been shown that hydrophobic lipid deposits overload the proximal tubular cells. Histochemistry with Holczinger's technique has demonstrated that these deposits are free fatty acids. In this study, the fatty acid analysis of phospholipids and neutral lipids was performed in rat renal cortex 4 and 8 days following a single i.v. dose of 20 mg/kg celiptium and showed: (1) a loss of polyunsaturated fatty acids within total phospholipids and a loss of phosphatidylethanolamine with a preferential decrease of arachidonic (20:4) and docosahexaenoic (22:6) acids; (2) an increase of free fatty acid levels with an increase in oleic (18:1) and linoleic (18:2) acids; (3) an increase of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances or aldehydes. The analysis of these aldehydes showed significant amounts of 4-hydroxyalkenals, mainly the presence of 4-hydroxynonenal on day 4 and of a hydroxyaldehyde with a chromatographic behavior very similar to 4-HNE on day 8. We conclude that celiptium induced a preferential decrease of phosphatidylethanolamine linked to the formation of unsaturated free fatty acids and of 4-hydroxyalkenals. The toxic side-effects of these breakdown products produced in the proximal tubular cell are discussed in light of the lipid peroxidation process involved in the renal toxicity of celiptium.