Protection by BCG, levamisole, PS-K, OK-432, and vitamin E against carbon tetrachloride hepatotoxicity.

It has been suggested that lipid peroxidation is an important factor in the pathogenesis of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) hepatotoxicity. In the present work, experimental liver injury induced by CCl4 was inhibited by the immunopotentiators such as BCG, levamisole, PS-K, and OK-432, and despite exposure to CCl4 the liver tissue levels of thiobarbituric acid (TBA) reactive substances were not increased in rats pretreated with immunopotentiators. Though immunopotentiators exhibit a protective action against CCl4-induced lipid peroxidation damage, their clinical role and mechanism of protective action on the liver have yet to be clarified in detail.