Effect of protein deprivation and parenteral nitrogen feeding on tissue nucleic acids in albino rats with toxic hepatitis

The concentration of nucleic acids was studied in the tissues (skeletal and heart muscles, liver) of rats with toxic liver damage caused by CCl4, associated with protein deprivation and parenteral administration of the amino acid mixture moriamines S-2 and improved casein hydrolysate. In protein-deprived albino rats with toxic hepatitis the RNA and DNA concentration is skeletal and heart muscle was considerably increased while, at the same time, their concentration in the liver was reduced. The RNA/DNA ratio under these circumstances was altered. The RNA content in the hepatocytes was reduced through a decrease in the nuclear fraction of RNA firmly bound with chromatin. Parenteral nitrogen feeding restored the normal nucleic acid concentration in all the tissues studied.