Effect of glucocorticoids on α-fetoprotein synthesis and liver structure of mice with acute carbon tetrachloride poisoning

Experiments on male C57BL mice showed that inhalation of CCl₄ for 15 min in a concentration of 0.05 ml/4 liters air causes severe degenerative changes in the liver with features of necrobiosis. However, phenomena of regeneration and cell infiltration arise as early as after 24 h and are accompanied by the secretion of -fetoprotein into the blood stream. After 4 days the foci of necrobiosis disappear and are totally replaced by lymphocytes with large hepatocytes at the periphery. Processes of regeneration in animals receiving hydrocortisone (20 mg/kg) or dexamethasone (2 mg/kg) therapeutically or prophylactically were less marked and the number of animals producing -fetoprotein was reduced from 92 to 60–65%.Department of Pharmacology, Astrakhan Medical Institute. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR A. V. Smol'yannikov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 151–153, February, 1977.