STUDIES ON FAT METABOLISM AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CARBON TETRACHLORIDE

¹ From the Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond

It has been shown that the protective action of xanthine against liver damage from carbon tetrachloride is not directly related to the decrease in serum esterase which follows its subcutaneous administration to normal rats.

Animals with fatty livers starved for twenty-four hours are very slightly, if at all, more susceptible to carbon tetrachloride than are normal rats starved for the same period of time. However, the oral administration of fat several hours before the time of poisoning increases markedly an animal's susceptibility irrespective of the concentration of liver fat.

Xanthine administration does not affect the concentration of serum lipids of fasting rats or the blood lipid concentration following the oral administration of butter fat.

Xanthine injections exert no demonstrable effect on the degree of ketonemia which results from starvation.