In-vivo inhibition by copper and some Cu-complexes of paracetamol-induced lipid peroxidation in benzpyrene-pretreated mice.

Benzo(alpha)pyrene-induced male mice were treated with 200 mg/kg paracetamol. The ethane exhalation of the animals was taken as an in-vivo index of lipid peroxidation: it amounted to 420 98 nmoles of ethane/kg body weight after 4 hours. A dose of 10 mg/kg of bovine superoxide dismutase had no effect on lipid peroxidation. After 4 daily repeated i.p. injections of 5 mg/kg copper-tyrosine or copper-asprinate an inhibition of the ethane exhalation was observed by 97 %. Control experiments indicated that Cu SO4 and tyrosine alone inhibited this drug-induced lipid peroxidation by 21 % and 24 %, respectively. However, the copper-ethylendiamine tetraacetic acid complex was also effective. The experiments show that in vivo various copper compounds effectively depress this type of drug-induced lipid peroxidation at low concentrations.