Allyl alcohol partially protects murine hepatic mitochondria against carbon tetrachloride.

Male CD-1 mice were treated with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4, 1 ml/kg, i.p.), or allyl alcohol (AA, 0.05 ml/kg, i.p.) or both 24 h prior to sacrifice. The livers were removed, homogenized and mitochondrial preparations were fractionated. Electron micrographs of the mitochondrial pellet from the livers of mice treated with CCl4 showed lysed and fragmented mitochondria as well as a few condensed mitochondria. No normal intact mitochondria were observed. The mitochondrial pellet from AA-treated livers was characterized by a preponderance of condensed mitochondria whether CCl4 was given also or not. The mitochondrial fraction from CCl4-treated mice failed to utilize oxygen whereas that fraction from mice given AA did not differ from control in either its basal oxygen consumption (state 4) or oxygen utilization after the addition of adenosine diphosphate (state 3). State 4 respiration differed slightly but significantly from control in mitochondria from mice given both AA and CCl4 whereas state 3 respiration was greatly and significantly decreased from that of control values. Electron micrographs of liver slices from mice given AA or the combination of AA and CCl4 showed normal mitochondrial morphology. Thus, AA appears to exert an influence, perhaps at the level of the mitochondrial membrane, which is manifested only after their isolation. This effect which results in the condensation of isolated mitochondria serves to partially protect them against CCl4, but it did not prevent the characteristic CCl4-induced centrilobular necrosis.