Further Studies on Toxicity of Thioacetamide in Rats

Abstract

Scarring and nodular hyperplasia of the liver were produced in rats maintained on an otherwise adequate diet containing 0.032% thioacetamide (TA). Administration of lipotropic factors (choline or dl-methionine and casein) in conjunction with 0.032% TA significantly decreased liver weight when compared to body weight. On the other hand histological examination of the livers from rats on the diet containing 30% casein in conjunction with 0.032% TA (Diet 3) showed the least severe changes, while the livers of rats on Diet 2 (dl-methionine) showed the most severe changes. Since fibrosis and various degrees of parenchymal lesions were observed in all rats on 0.032% TA with and without the added lipotropic factors, it cannot be said that any of the lipotropic factors studied were effective in preventing liver damage, although there appears to have been a quantitative alteration in the character of the lesion.