Lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in vanadate-treated rats.

Male Wistar rats received an aqueous solution of ammonium metavanadate (AMV) of 0.15 mg/V/ml concentration instead of water for 14 days. The erythrocyte count and haemoglobin level in blood were not changed; the haematocrit index was slightly increased. The spontaneous lipid peroxidation in kidney and liver homogenates was increased. The Fe(II)- or ascorbate-induced lipid peroxidation was more pronounced in the kidney than in the liver. No changes in lipid peroxidation were observed in erythrocytes after AMV treatment. The AMV treatment resulted in a decrease in the activity of the antioxidant enzymes, catalase and glutathione peroxidase in the kidney and liver; the cytosolic Cu,Zn-SOD and mitochondrial Mn-SOD were unchanged. The activity of the enzymes in blood was not changed. The results are discussed with a view to the participation of lipid peroxidation in vanadium toxicity.