Fig. 4.

A Ca-deficient diet protects animals from acute CCl₄-induced hepatotoxicity, as assessed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and periodic acid Schiff (PAS) staining. Mice were fed a normal diet or a Ca-deficient diet from 4 weeks of age for a period of 4 weeks. At 8 weeks of age, the mice were injected intraperitoneally with 2 g/kg CCl₄. Animals were euthanized at 24 h after the intraperitoneal injection and the livers were harvested at necropsy. Liver specimens were fixed and processed by standard methods, and sections were stained with H&E (A–C) or PAS (D–F). These micrographs provide 10x magnified images of representative H&E or PAS stained sections from livers obtained from control (A and D), normal diet + CCl₄ (B and E), and Ca-deficient diet + CCl₄ (C and F) animals. The image in (B) reveals severe necrosis around the central vein in CCl₄ exposed animals fed a normal diet, in contrast to the mostly normal hepatic structure seen in (A) and (C). The image in (E) reveals almost complete depletion of hepatic glycogen following CCl₄ intoxication while on a normal diet; in contrast, Ca-deficient diet group shows prevention of some of this glycogen depletion (F).