Responses of renal and hepatic vitamin K dependent gamma-glutamyl carboxylase substrates to warfarin and vitamin K treatments.

A single intraperitoneal injection of warfarin (5 mg/kg) in the rat causes maximal accumulation of hepatic vitamin K dependent carboxylase substrate by 8 hr. In the kidney accumulation is slower with maximal amounts of the substrate appearing at about 16 hr. Vitamin K administered intravenously to warfarin-treated rats causes the complete disappearance of the hepatic substrate in 2 hr. In contrast, neither a single nor multiple injections of the vitamin decrease the renal substrate level by more than 30%. However, this decrease can be augmented by inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide.