Function of reticuloendothelial system on CCl4 induced liver injury in mice

Phagocytic activity as a function of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) has been studied in CCl4-induced liver injury by using the carbon clearance test. Liver damage in mice was induced by administration of 20% CCl4 in olive oil (p.o.). After a single administration of CCl4, significant increases in liver/body weight ratio, serum GOT and GPT levels, alpha, beta and gamma-globulins and BSP retention, and decreases in serum albumin, an activity of the hepaplastintest and the correct phagocytic activity, alpha value, were found. After 15 administrations of CCl4 (3 times a week), mild increases in serum GPT level and BSP retention and decreases in the activity of the hepaplastintest and both phagocytic indices, K and alpha values, were observed. However, zymosan treatment 3 days before sacrifice induced an increase in K value depressed by multiple administrations of CCl4. The depression of carbon uptake by Kupffer cells can be seen by light microscopy after multiple administrations of CCl4 compared with that of saline and olive oil. These findings indicate that the RES phagocytosis is suppressed more strongly in chronic liver injury by 15 CCl4 administrations than in acute injury by a single one, although the biochemical parameters indicating liver injury are shown to have an opposite tendency. A clear correlation between the alteration of RES activity and the degree of liver injury was not noted.