A study on cerium-induced liver injury in rats after pretreatment with spironolactone, phenobarbital, pregnenolone-16 alpha-carbonitrile and nafenopin.

A number of drugs known to induce liver microsomal enzymes were studied with respect to their effect on the elevated liver triglyceride (TG) concentration and serum glutamic oxaloacetic acid transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic acid transaminase (GPT) activities induced by an i.v. injection of cerium in rats. Pretreatment with pregnenolone - 16 alpha - carbonitrile (PCN) and 2-methyl-2-[p-(1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphth-1-yl)phenoxy]-propionic acid (nafenopin) decreased the liver TG concentration significantly. Spironolactone and phenobarbital pretreatment also decreased the TG level in comparison to controls, but the difference was not statistically significant. Both GOT- and GPT-activities in serum increased on the first day after cerium injection and reached a maximum after 3 days. All the drugs significantly reduced the elevated levels. After 7 days the activity was almost normal in all the surviving animals.