Inhalation versus oral administration of acetone: effect of the vehicle on the potentiation of CCl4-induced liver injury.

Acetone potentiation of liver injury is greater when corn oil is given with acetone 18 h prior to a challenge with CCl4. This study aimed to further characterize the effects of the vehicle used to administer acetone on the severity of acetone-potentiated CCl4-induced liver injury. The more severe acetone-potentiated liver injury observed when corn oil was the vehicle does not seem to be due to greater liver acetone concentrations. When corn oil was used as the vehicle to administer acetone, liver and blood CCl4 concentrations were not significantly different from those where water was the vehicle. Therefore the relationship between blood or liver acetone concentration and plasma ALT activity for orally-administered acetone was modified by corn oil. Liver triglyceride concentration measured 18 h after a gavage of corn oil was significantly higher than that for the water-treated group. A direct effect of corn oil on liver, in particular a promotion of the propagation phase in the lipid peroxidation process induced by CCl4, is proposed to explain the increase in acetone-potentiated CCl4-induced liver injury.