Effect of protein-calorie malnutrition on drug metabolising enzymes in rat liver.

Drugs are chiefly metabolised in the liver usually in two phases, viz. oxidation and conjugation. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM), rehabilitation and effect of phenobarbitone on the hepatic drug metabolising enzymes in weanling albino rats, fed on a semisynthetic diet containing 18% or 0.5% protein. The two representative enzymes of oxidation and conjugation employed were aminopyrine N-demethylase and bilirubin UDP-glucuronyl transferase, respectively. The study revealed that PCM severely impairs oxidative drug metabolising enzyme but less so in conjugation stage. On refeeding 18% protein diet, drug metabolising enzymes returned to normal within 2-3 weeks. Phenobarbitone administration increased the activities of drug metabolising enzymes.