Tamoxifen inhibits estrogen-induced hepatic injury in hamsters

Estrogens have an unusual toxic effect on the liver of two hamster species, the Armenian and the Chinese hamster. The hepatotoxicity was detectable clinically by hyperbilirubinemia and confirmed histologically by the presence of hepatic degenerative-regenerative changes. Administration of tamoxifen with estrogen [either ethynyl estradiol or diethylstilbestrol (DES)] completely abrogated the hepatotoxic effects, suggesting that estrogen receptor (ER) was necessary for estrogen to damage liver. In Armenian hamsters, estrogens decreased hepatic synthesis of female protein (FP); tamoxifen also abolished this DES effect and resulted in a net increase in serum FP levels. DES administration produced higher serum bilirubin levels and lower serum FP levels in females than in males. Paradoxically, tamoxifen blocked these DES effects more effectively and efficiently in females than in males. Estrogens did not injure uteri of Armenian and Chinese hamsters and were nontoxic to livers of other hamsters species, such as Syrian and Turkish. This model provides another perspective of the acute cellular derangement that can be effected by estrogen-ER complex and may indicate a yet unknown mode of ER action.