Is malondialdehyde a marker of the effect of oxygen free radicals in rat heart tissue?

Abstract
We tested the effect of exogenous purine derived free radicals and H2O2 VS ischemia and reperfusion on the thiobarbituric-acid (TBA)-reactive material and malondialdehyde (MDA) formation in isolated rat hearts using the thiobarbituric acid test and high performance lipid chromatography (HPLC). We could not detect increased thiobarbituric-acid-reactive material or MDA- production during 6 MM H2O2 infusion, during free radical generation by purine-derived free radicals, or using ischemia and reperfusion. Increased thiobarbituric-acid-reactive material and MDA tissue levels were detected only during infusion of 12 mM H2O2 (p<0.001). We conclude that the generally used thiobarbituric acid assay for MDA is susceptible to artifacts and unsuited as an indirect measure for low-to-medium-levels of oxygen free radicals. Using HPLC assay, which accurately measures MDA, no evidence was found that MDA is a primary and direct lipid peroxidation product of exogenous or endogenous reactive oxygen species.

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