Regional distribution of glutathione-related antioxidant defences in the normal rabbit aorta

In 6 normal rabbits, the aortic arch, the descending thoractic and the abdominal aorta were tested for non proteic thiol compounds, selenium-dependent and selenium-independent glutatione peroxidase, glutatione reductase, glutatione transferase and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. The aortic arch showed the greatest content of non proteic thiol compounds and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, associated to the highest activities of glutathione-related enzymes. However, not significant differences were detectable between aortic arch and descending thoracic aorta, except for the glutathione transferase activity (0.395±0.031 vs 0.330±0.053 U/mg protein, p