THE ANTIOXIDANT SYSTEM OF MAMMALIAN LIVER AND HEART MEMBRANES IN POSTNATAL ONTOGENY

Quantitative estimates were made for the pools of hydrophobic scavenge rs of free radicals in liver and heart membranes from mammals (mice an d rats) of various age. The liver membranes contained mainly active sc avengers, whereas the heart membranes, apart from these, also harbored substances that became scavengers after ''activation'' by borohydride reduction of tissue extracts in n-hexane. The vitamin E content in he art membranes proved significantly higher than that in liver membranes . A general tendency was a decline in the antioxidant pools during pos tnatal ontogeny. A group of newborn animals was studied for the first time. The vitamin E content in their liver was about three times lower than that in adults. The most pronounced changes in the antioxidant s ystem took place in the heart.