Abstract
Summary
Vitamin E deficiency and low protein intake, factors reported to accentuate the overt toxicity symptoms of CCl4 in rats, were investigated for their effects on CCl4-induced alterations of carbohydrate metabolism by rat liver slices. Rats fed for 5 weeks on purified diets containing 18 or 10% casein with or without added vitamin E were fasted 24 hr, intubated orally with 1 ml of CCl4 in olive oil per kg of body weight, and then fasted during the subsequent 24 hr. Protection against CCl4-induced lethality by adequate dietary protein and/or vitamin E was observed. However, the following CCl4 effects were unaffected by lowering dietary casein or vitamin E levels: (i) increased liver size and fat content; (ii) lowered oxygen uptake and increased production of 14CO2 from uniformly labeled glucose-14C by liver slices; and (iii) a net production of lactic acid (seen only with liver slices from CCl4-dosed rats). Thus it is concluded that in rats, the protection against CCl4 toxicity by dietary vitamin E or adequate protein levels is not related to any effects on these parameters of CCl4-altered carbohydrate metabolism.
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