Abstract

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) administration to rats induces porphyria cutanea tarda, characterized by high levels of urinary porphyrins (>40 ?g/day) and accumulation of highly carboxylated porphyrins in liver (>15 ?g/g of tissue). Ethanol administration, under the conditions employed, was not porphyrinogenic and was able to diminish some of the responses elicited by HCB. Furthermore, ethanol and/or HCB administration leads to organ disturbances that involve oxidative stress. We have measured the changes in urinary chemiluminescence (CL) levels, as part of a systematic evaluation of the metabolic alterations in rats chronically treated with ethanol and/or HCB. The results, that constitute the first set of urinary CL data obtained from an animal model system, indicate that the measurement of the spontaneous urinary CL can constitute a fast, simple and sensitive method to evaluate disturbances associated with oxidative stress. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.