The effect of cobaltous chloride on liver haem metabolism in the rat. Evidence for inhibition of haem synthesis and for increased haem degradation.

After a single dose of cobaltous chloride there was a marked inhibition of liver 5-aminolaevulinate (5-ALA) synthetase (at 1 h) and this was followed in turn by a stimulation of haem oxygenase (at 3 h) and by a return of the synthetase activity to normal or above normal (at 17 h). Bile cannulation experiments were performed 1 and 17 h after administration of CoCl2. At 1 h there was a marked decrease in bile porphyrin content, no change in bile concentration of bilirubin, but a decrease in the conversion of [14C]-5-ALA to bilirubin and to liver haem. At 17 h, an the other hand, the bile excretion of both porphyrins and bilirubin was significantly greater than in controls and more radioactivity (from [14C]-5-ALA) appeared in the bile as bilirubin. It is concluded that the effects of cobalt on liver haem metabolism are complex and time-dependent. There is first inhibition of liver haem synthesis at two different steps of the pathway (synthesis of 5-ALA and conversion of 5-ALA to haem), with diversion of [14C]-5-ALA into a relatively stable liver pool different from haem; and at a later stage there is also an increase in the rate of liver haem degradation.