Summary
Ethane evolution was measured in rats breathing pure oxygen. Animals injected i.p. with a lethal dose of paraquat (50 mg/kg) developed signs of pulmonary insufficiency within 3 hours and died within 24 hours. Ethane evolution, a parameter of lipid peroxidation in vivo, was increased over control levels only by 26% after 4 hours. It is concluded that this increase is too small to support the theory that lipid peroxidation is the biochemical mechanism of paraquat toxicity.
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References
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Steffen, C., Muliawan, H. & Kappus, H. Lack of in vivo lipid peroxidation in experimental paraquat poisoning. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 310, 241–243 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00499917
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00499917