Figure 4
Experimental design. Female and male Long Evans rats (F0) were exposed to a low or high dose of BPF (LBPF or HBPF) or control diet from premating until the end of the experiment. Six days after birth and lactation of the pups, lactating dams (F0) and PND6 pups (females and males) were sacrificed to study the oxidant/antioxidant balance in the liver. Endogenous antioxidant agents include enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), which eliminates the first oxygen free radical (O2) produced during oxygen utilization, the superoxide anion (O2−.); catalase (CAT), which is responsible for converting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into water (H2O) and oxygen (O2); and the main enzymes involved in the glutathione system, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), which catalyzes the elimination of peroxides, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), using reduced glutathione (GSH) and converting it to oxidized glutathione (GSSG), glutathione reductase (GR), which recomposes GSH so that it can be used by GPx, and also glutathione-S-transferase (GST), which catalyzes the conjugation of glutathione with xenobiotics, playing a role in the inactivation of free radicals. Figure created with Prism v7 (GraphPad Software, Inc, CA, USA).
