Effect of a Single Injection of Carbon Tetrachioride upon the Activity of the Pseudo-cholinesterase in the Liver and Serum of Male and Female Rats

Abstract

Brauer and Root¹ and Ellis, Sanders and Bodansky² produced liver injury in rats by frequent injections of small doses of carbon tetrachioride over a period of six to twelve days. There was a definite fall in the cholinesterase activity of the liver and a somewhat delayed fall in that of the serum; but the continued administration of the poison renders the findings difficult to interpret. If the enzyme in the serum is derived from the liver^1,2, the regeneration of the liver tissue after injury should be accompanied by restoration of the serum and liver cholinesterase to the normal level. Cameron and Karunaratne³ found in the rat that a large single injection of carbon tetrachioride caused zonal necrosis, centrilobular in distribution, within twenty-four hours, and that recovery was complete in seven to fourteen days. It was therefore decided to follow the serum and liver cholinesterase activity in male and female rats for eleven days after a single subcutaneous injection of 0.25 ml. carbon tetrachioride (B.D.H. Analar)/ 100 gm. body-weight.