[Toxicity of chloroform and vitamin A status in the rat]

After a chloroform intraperitoneal injection, lactate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase and particularly aspartate aminotransferase serum activities are much more raised in deficient animals. Liver ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity normally decreases in rats between the 4th. and the 7th. month after the weaning. In vitamin A deficient animals, basal values of the enzyme activity are lower and the decrease is deeper. But even at month 7, liver sustains a partial capacity of ODC recovery if retinol is fed during 15 days. Chloroform administration strongly enhances liver ODC activity in normal rats. In the deficiency, stimulation is lower in absolute value but relatively higher if referred to basal level. After retinol refeeding, chloroform stimulates enzyme activity to nearly normal values. Vitamin A deficiency impairs obviously liver ODC activity and its response to chloroform stimulation in rats, but the stroke is at least partially reversible in our conditions. Moreover, deficient animals maintain a non negligible capacity of ODC response under chloroform stimulation.