Time course of biochemical and histological alterations following a single feeding of carbon tetrachloride to mice.

Carbon tetrachloride (0.02, 0.5 or 1.5 ml/kg) was given through a stomach tube to female C57BL/6J mice. Liver weights, the quantities of nine liver (protein, free glucose, glycogen, triglyceride, phospholipid, free and esterified cholesterol, DNA and RNA) and three blood components (glucose and free and esterified cholesterol), and SGOT activities were measured at 15, 24, 39, 48, 63, 87, 159 or 327 hr after carbon tetrachloride feeding. Livers were examined histologically. Chemical components of the liver and blood changed generally in a dose-related manner, but more slowly in the larger-dose groups. The biochemical alterations were reflected well in the histological findings. Degenerative and regenerative findings occurred later in the larger-dose animals. Histological changes appeared first in the midzones in the 0.5 and 1.5 ml/kg groups.