Protective Effect of Vitamin B12 Upon Hepatic Injury Produced by Carbon Tetrachloride.

Abstract

In addition to the histologic picture, the bromsulphalein retention, the total liver lipid concn., the histologic fat distr. and the degree of ribosenucleic acid depletion from the liver cells were examined in 7 normal rats and in 31 rats intoxicated with CCI4 and in 37 intoxicated rats which previously had received 15 ug. of vit. B12 per 100 g. of body wt. The rats which had received vit. B12 were protected to a considerable degree from the effects of CCI4 intoxication as evidenced by the 2 histologic and 2 biochemical criteria selected for quantitative studies. There was marked parallelism in the degree of alteration in all 4 factors in the individual animals. On the avg., the vit. B12-treated animals showed 1/3 of the changes of the nonprotected animals. The results obtained were tentatively related to an effect of vit. B12 on hepatic cytoplasmatic ribosenucleic acid.