Reduction in Plasma Desoxyribonuclease Activity on Circulation through the Liver: Index of Liver Function.

Abstract

DNase activity was detd. by the methyl green method at pH 7.5 in the portal vein, hepatic vein, and aortic plasma and bile of fed, normal (except for the anesthesia and terminal surgery) albino rats, and of rats rendered anoxic, injd. with CC14, or made icteric by hepatic duct ligation. The hepatic vein plasma regularly demonstrated lower DNase activity than did that of the portal vein in normal rats (73% hepatic extraction). In normal rats, the bile demonstrated DNase activity similar to that of the portal vein plasma. Hepatic damage by anoxia or CC14 injn. suppressed the capacity of the liver to "extract" DNase from the blood. This hepatic function is abolished 24 hrs. after the injn. of CC1; after 48 hrs. there appears to be partial recovery. Hepatic duct obstruction for as long as 96 hrs. did not impair the liver''s capacity to "extract" DNase. Apparently excretion of DNase in the bile is not the principal means by which it is "cleared" from the portal blood.