Effect of three major nutrients on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in mice

4 Summary In this study, the effect of nutrients on hepatotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in mice was examined. The mice were divided into control, fasted, fed, starch, albumin and olive oil groups, and those groups, except for the control group, were injected intraperitoneally with CCl4. The fed and starch groups showed significantly decreased activities of serum amino- transferase, concentrations of hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and triglycerides (TG) when compared with the fasted group. The hepatic glycogen concentrations were significantly increased in the fed and starch groups when compared with the fasted group. There was a significant exponential negative correlation between the increase in glycogen concentration and the decrease in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity, whereas the increase in TG concentration had a significant positive correlation with the increase in ALT activity. The sucrose intake was also similar to that of the starch intake. In conclusion, these results indicate that glucide intake protects mice from CCl4- induced hepatotoxicity in comparison to protein or lipid intake. Furthermore, high lipid intake aggravates CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity.