Liver toxicity of ionic (Diatrizoate) and nonionic (C-29) contrast materials: effects of serum enzymes after hepatic artery injection in the rat.

Catheters were placed in the retrograde direction in the surgically exposed gastroduodenal arteries of rats. There was an early postoperative mortality of one-third of the animals. The catheter was exteriorized at the tail and was used for arterial perfusion of the liver with one experimental, nonionic contrast medium (C-29) and one ionic contrast medium (diatrizoate). Both contrast media (370 mg I/ml) were injected in a dose of 4 ml/kg rat. The contrast medium injections caused no significant changes in serum levels of the enzymes ALAT, ASAT, or GT.