Abstract

Liver, the metabolic machinery of the body, is under constant threat of oxidants. Lipid peroxidation being a toxicity mediating process, drug induced lipid peroxidation may be a probable mechanism of drug induced toxicity. In the present study, drug induced lipid peroxidation has been studied taking hydrocortisone as representative drug and liver homogenate as the experimental model. The antioxidant effects of ascorbic acid, probucol and α-tocopherol on hydrocortisone induced lipid peroxidation were also studied in an attempt to explore the possible potential of these agents in reducing drug-induced toxicity. It was observed that hydrocortisone could cause time-dependent induction in lipid peroxidation which may be related to the toxic potential of the drug. Further, ascorbic acid, probucol and a-tocopherol could suppress hydrocortisone-induced lipid peroxidation to significant extent. The present findings are interesting and provide a scope for further extensive studies on the antioxidants with an aim to reduce toxic potential of the drug.