Abstract
Five-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes were assigned to two types of feeding condition. One was fed ad libitum(AL)on commercial chow and another was fed a restricted amount of the chow(FR), approximately 75% of that fed in the AL condition. In each feeding condition, animals were orally administered carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) at levels of 0(control), 0.1 or 0.2 ml / kg 6 days a week for 8 weeks. Lesions of the liver(hepatic cellular degeneration and fibrosis)and of the kidney(proximal tubular vacuolation and glomerular sclerosis)induced by CCl4 were aggravated in the FR group. The FR-control showed a higher metabolic activity of aniline in the liver than the AL-control group. Plasma lipid-peroxide(LPO)level was higher in the AL-control group than in the FR-control group. With CCl4 0.2 ml / kg treatment however, the plasma LPO level was reversed between the AL and the FR groups. Taking together these somewhat unexpected results, it was concluded that(1)25%food restriction increases toxicity of repeatedly administered CCl4 in rats, and(2)aggravation of CCl4 toxicity may be partly due to enhanced metabolic activation of CCl4 resulting from food restriction.
