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British Journal of Experimental Pathology logoLink to British Journal of Experimental Pathology
. 1975 Apr;56(2):103–112.

Diverse mechanisms of hepatocellular injuries due to chemicals: evidence in rats administered carbon tetrachloride or dimethylnitrosamine.

N C Nayak, P Chopra, A Dhar, P K Das
PMCID: PMC2072742  PMID: 173382

Abstract

Differences in acute hepatotoxicity of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) have been tested in normal foetal, newborn and adult rats, foetal, newborn and adult rats pretreated with phenobarbitone and partially hepatectomized adult rats. While CCl4 is non-toxic to the foetal and newborn liver, DMN induces identical necrosis at all ages. Prior dosing with phenobarbitone augments CCl4 toxicity only in the adult and the newborn but the foetus continues to be resistant. Such pretreatment, on the other hand, significantly reduces the effects of DMN on liver in all animals. Partial hepatectomy makes the liver less susceptible to CCl4 and more so to DMN. Such diversities of hepatic response to the two toxins can be accounted for by the levels of the respective toxifying enzymes in the liver cell in different situations.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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