title: Quantitative study of natural antioxidant systems for cellular nitrofurantoin toxicity.
abstract: The toxicity of nitrofurantoin was studied on human WI-38 fibroblasts: this chemical was lethal when added at concentrations higher than 5.10(-5) M in the culture medium. The protection afforded by antioxidants was then tested: alpha-tocopherol gave at 10(-4) M a light protection in contrast to ascorbic acid which even became toxic at high concentrations. We also tested catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase introduced intracellularly by the microinjection technique. On a molecular basis, glutathione peroxidase was 23-times more efficient than catalase and 3000-times more than superoxide dismutase. The results also showed that a similar range of enzyme concentrations was found for the protection against high oxygen pressure. This suggests that, in the case of both oxygen and nitrofurantoin toxicity, the peroxide derivatives are the most toxic intermediates of the free radical attacks.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biochimie Cellulaire, Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Michiels
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Remacle
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D009582:Nitrofurantoin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010544:Peroxidases / Q000494:pharmacology; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D014810:Vitamin E; D009582:Nitrofurantoin; D010544:Peroxidases; D001205:Ascorbic Acid