Long-term effects of carbon tetrachloride and sodium phenobarbitone administration on rat serum proteins.

A radial immunodiffusion technique has been used to measure the levels of 4 serum proteins, albumin, transferrin, slow α-globulin and γ-globulin in rats before, during and after the administration of carbon tetrachloride and sodium phenobarbitone for 9 weeks and in control rats receiving carbon tetrachloride alone, phenobarbitone alone, or no treatment. In the rats receiving both sodium phenobarbitone and carbon tetrachloride or carbon tetrachloride alone, there were continuous significant falls in serum albumin and transferrin levels during the 15 weeks following cessation of treatment. In contrast, both these groups of rats showed significant increases in slow α-globulin and γ-globulin levels after cessation of treatment. There were significant increases in albumin, transferrin and γ-globulin levels in the sodium phenobarbitone treated group. In the untreated group a significant increase in γ-globulin was observed. The striking serum protein changes observed in the rats following administration of sodium phenobarbitone and carbon tetrachloride alone or together are likely to be the result of persisting functional liver cell damage, whether accompanied by cirrhosis or not.