Abstract
The effects of Bifemelane (BF) on lipid perokidation, the activities of hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes, and the function of cell membranes were examined in rats. In the liver ischemia-reperfusion model, BF suppressed the elevation of the lipid peroxidation level during the period of reperfusion. BF did not exhibit a radical-trapping action using a stable free radical, 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), which was estimated by electron spin resonance (ESR). BF remarkably inhibited NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation in vitro. BF had no effect on the contents of cytochrome P-450 and b5 and the activities of NADPH cytochrome P-450reductase and Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD). BF suppressed phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-induced superoxide formation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), protected hypotonic hemolysis of erythrocyte and inhibited platelet aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and serum phospholipase A activity. These results suggest that BF has neither radical-trapping activity nor any influence on the drug metabolizing enzymes, but BF has a membrane-stabilizing action and it attributes to the suppressive effect of lipid peroxidation.