METHIONINE THERAPY IN EXPERIMENTAL LIVER INJURY PRODUCED BY CARBON TETRACHLORIDE

¹ Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut

1. The effect of methionine on the liver injury produced by carbon tetrachloride was studied in dogs, which received both normal and low-casein diets and different doses of CCl₄. The amount of fat in the diet was constant in all of the studies.

2. Three acute experiments with a normal protein diet (20% and 41% casein) and dose levels of 0.5 cc., 0.25 cc. or 0.125 cc. of CCl₄ per kilogram were performed. Supplements of methionine were without effect on the dye retention, serum phosphatase or pathological changes in the liver.

3. Methionine was also without effect in preventing or decreasing the degree of liver injury, both functional and histological, in a chronic study on dogs receiving a normal protein intake (20% casein) and 0.25 cc. of CCl₄ per kilogram twice a week for 66 days.

4. Supplements of methionine were also without effect on the liver injury produced by 0.125 cc. of CCl₄ per kilogram in dogs receiving a low protein intake (8% casein) for three and one-half or 16 weeks, as judged by functional and pathological changes in the liver.

5. At the present time there is no evidence for a beneficial effect on methionine on liver injury produced by CCl₄ when either normal or low protein intake are used.