Effect of carbon tetrachloride ingestion on liver and plasma triglyceride turnover rates

Abstract

Specific and total radioactivity of liver and serum triglycerides were determined at various times after palmitate-1-C14 injection in carbon tetrachloride-treated and control rats. A multicompartmental model of plasma and liver triglyceride metabolism was used to calculate, with the aid of a digital computer, transfer rates from one compartment to another.Analysis of the data indicates that carbon tetrachloride ingestion results in a lowering of the rate of hepatic triglyceride secretion to one-tenth of the control value. In addition, the rates of plasma triglyceride turnover and of hepatic uptake of plasma triglyceride were found to be only one-fifth of the control rates. The results are compatible with a hypothesis of disruption of hepatic mechanisms involved in the synthesis of triglyceride–protein complexes, in their secretion, or both.