Influence of phenylhydrazine on the antioxidant system of the erythrocytes and the liver in mice.

Phenylhydrazine when injected into the mouse acts in two phases. At an early stage it provokes directly in the erythrocytes as well as in the liver a decrease in the concentration of acid soluble nonprotein thiol groups. Indirectly it causes a later and more lasting increase in glutathione S-transferase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities in the erythrocytes, due mostly to a renewal of the population of these cells, and in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in the liver due to a decrease in hepatic glutathione. Thus, modifications in the erythrocytes are mainly due first to a strong oxidation of hemoglobin and afterwards to the renewal of the population. In the liver, modifications are mostly induced by consumption of reduced glutathione and secondary activation of the pentose cycle. It is suggested that there is a similarity between this chemical aggression and an inflammatory process.