Lipid peroxidation (LPO) and alterations in cellular systems protecting against oxidative damage were determined in the liver, kidney and skeletal muscle of male F344/NCr rats, 1 h to 3 days after a single intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 107 mumol
nickel(II)acetate per kg
body weight. At 3 h, when tissue
nickel concentrations were highest, the following significant (at least, P less than 0.05) effects were observed: in kidney, increased LPO (by 43%), increased renal
iron (by 24%), decreased
catalase (CAT) and
glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities (both by 15%), decreased
glutathione (GSH) concentration (by 20%), decreased
glutathione reductase (
GSSG-R) activity (by 10%), and increased
glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity (by 44%); the activity of
superoxide dismutase (SOD) and gamma-glutamyl
transferase (GGT), as well as
copper concentration, were not affected. In the liver,
nickel effects included increased LPO (by 30%), decreased CAT and GSH-Px activities (both by 15%), decreased GSH level (by 33%), decreased
GSSG-R activity (by 10%) and decreased GST activity (by 35%); SOD, GGT,
copper, and
iron remained unchanged. In muscle,
nickel treatment decreased
copper content (by 43%) and the SOD activity (by 30%) with no effects on other parameters. In blood,
nickel had no effect on CAT and GSH-Px, but increased the activities of
alanine-(ALT) and
aspartate-(AST)
transaminases to 330% and 240% of the background level, respectively. In conclusion,
nickel treatment caused profound cell damage as indicated by increased LPO in liver and kidney and leakage of intracellular
enzymes, ALT and AST to the blood. The time pattern of the resulting renal and hepatic LPO indicated a possible contribution to its magnitude from an increased concentration of
nickel and concurrent inhibition of CAT, GSH-Px and
GSSG-R, but not from increased
iron or
copper levels. The oxidative damage expressed as LPO was highest in the kidney and lowest in the muscle, which concurs with the corresponding ranking of
nickel uptake by these tissues.