The carbon-tetrachloride-hepatotoxicity as a model of liver damage. First report: Long-time biochemical changes.

176 Growing female Wistar rats get injections of 1 ml CCl4 per kg twice a week. Seven days after the beginning of the experiment over a period of eight weeks blood samples were collected after the decapitation of the animals for liver function tests. The CCl4-hepatotoxicity seems to have a three or four phased course. The first phase of two or three weeks is characterised by a necrosis, demonstrated by the rising enzymes values, and a beginning damage of the liver as shown by the decreasing value of the pseudocholinesterasis. The second phase of two or three weeks is charcterised by as massive fatty infiltration and an increasing necrosis, demonstrated by the high plateau of the triglycerides, the increase of SGOT and the BSP-retention and the decrease of the pseudocholinesterases. These values may correspond to a liver fibrosis at the end, too. The third phase is marked by more increasing values of the SGOT, hydroxyproline, triglycerides and BSP-retention. The final decrease of the pseudocholinesterasis and liver weight demonstrate a reduced synthetical ability and an atrophy of the liver. The rats were in this last phase in a nearly pre-final state. --These biochemical changes of the CCl4-hepatotoxicity which correspond to histological damages reported elsewhere seem to be a good measure to characterise liver damage quantitatively and qualitatively. The therefore may be used as a model for systematical studies in the repair of a disturbed liver function.