Associations between liver histological changes and hepatic monooxygenase activities in vitro in diabetic patients

The associations between liver histological changes and hepatic cytochrome P-450 content (P-450) and the activities of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) and 7-ethoxycoumarin O-de-ethylase (ECD) have been investigated in 30 diabetics undergoing diagnostic liver biopsy. There were more than 10-fold interindividual variations in P-450 contents and AHH and ECD activities in the diabetics. P-450 content decreased with increasing severity of liver histological changes, whereas AHH and ECD activities were significantly reduced only in biopsies with severe histological changes. However, despite differential effects of liver disorders on P-450 and AHH and ECD activities there were highly significant correlations between these three parameters with each other.