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Effect of natural ageing and antioxidant inhibition on liver antioxidant enzymes, glutathione system, peroxidation, and oxygen consumption inRana perezi

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Summary

A study of the physiological role of oxygen free radicals in relation to the ageing process was performed using the liver ofRana perezi, an animal with a moderate rate of oxygen consumption and a life span substantially longer than that of laboratory rodents.

Among the five different antioxidant enzymes only superoxide dismutase (SOD) showed an age-dependent decrease. Cytochrome oxidase (COX), glutathione status, in vivo and in vitro liver peroxidation, and metabolic rate did not vary as a function of age.

Long-term (2.5 months) treatment with aminotriazole and diethyldithiocarbamate depleted catalase (CAT) activity and did not change both glutathione peroxidases (GPx), COX, reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) glutathione, or metabolic rate. This treatment resulted in great compensatory increases in SOD (to 250–460% of controls) and glutathione reductase (GR) (to 200%) which are possibly responsible for the lack of increase of in vivo and in vitro liver peroxidation and for the absence of changes in survival rate.

The comparison of these results with previous data from other species suggests the possibility that decreases in antioxidant capacity in old age are restricted to animal species with high metabolic rates. Nevertheless, ageing can still be due to the continuous presence of small concentrations of O2 radicals in the tissues throughout life in animals with either high or low metabolic rates, because radical scavenging can not be 100% effective. Compensatory homeostasis among antioxidants seems to be a general phenomenon in different species.

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Abbreviations

AT :

3-amino-1,2,4 triazole

CAT :

catalase

COX :

cytochrome c oxidase

DDC :

diethyldithiocarbamate

GPx :

glutathione peroxidase

GR :

glutathione reductase

GSH :

reduced glutathione

GSSG :

oxidized glutathione

MDA :

malondialdehyde

SOD :

superoxide dismutase

TBA-RS :

thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances

VO 2 :

oxygen consumption

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Biology-II, Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Complutense University, SP-28040, Madrid, Spain

    M. López-Torres, R. Pérez-Campo & G. Barja de Quiroga

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  1. M. López-Torres
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  2. R. Pérez-Campo
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  3. G. Barja de Quiroga
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López-Torres, M., Pérez-Campo, R. & Barja de Quiroga, G. Effect of natural ageing and antioxidant inhibition on liver antioxidant enzymes, glutathione system, peroxidation, and oxygen consumption inRana perezi . J Comp Physiol B 160, 655–661 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00571264

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