title: Ursodeoxycholic acid and superoxide anion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the ability of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) to scavenge superoxide anion (O(2)(-)).
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the ability of UDCA to scavenge (O(2)(-)) generated by xanthine-xanthine oxidase (X-XO) in a cell-free system and its effect on the rate of O(2)(-)-induced ascorbic acid (AA) oxidation in hepatic post-mitochondrial supernatants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  UDCA at a concentration as high as 1 mmol/L did not impair the ability of the X-XO system to generate O(2)(-), but could scavenge O(2)(-) at concentrations of 0.5 and 1 mmol/L, and decrease the rate of AA oxidation at a concentration of 100 micromol/L.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  UDCA can scavenge O(2)(-), an action that may be beneficial to patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Efron Street, PO Box 9649, Haifa 31096, Israel.
authors.forename: Predrag
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ljubuncic
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abu-Salach
authors.forename: Arieh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bomzon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D051381:Rats; D013481:Superoxides / Q000378:metabolism*; D014580:Ursodeoxycholic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019820:Xanthine / Q000378:metabolism; D014969:Xanthine Oxidase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D013481:Superoxides; D019820:Xanthine; D014580:Ursodeoxycholic Acid; D014969:Xanthine Oxidase; D001205:Ascorbic Acid