Research needs for hepatic injury due to environmental agents

This report presents an overview of the patterns of liver injury produced by presently recognized toxic substances in the environment. Current concepts of the metabolic disposition of these substances in the liver suggest that their toxic effects may be modulated by an interplay between enzymatic pathways for activation or inactivation of foreign compounds. A better understanding of the genetic control of the enzymes involved in these pathways, as well as the mechanisms of cell death or malignancy produced by the products of these pathways, is needed. Although a number of sensitive biochemical tests of liver function are currently available, development of specific, noninvasive screening tests for the earliest manifestations of liver injury are urgently needed.