| Abstract: | Abstract: In order to study the effects of nicotine on liver, groups of rats were given nicotine doses that simulated those seen in chronic smoking (54 and 108 μmol/l of nicotine) for 10 days. A subgroup was also given a single subcutaneous injection of 6 g/kg of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) shortly before the animals of the group were killed. Histology demonstrated a significant hepatotoxic effect in the group receiving 108 μmol/l of nicotine when compared with the control group in the form of fatty change, focal or confluent necrosis and dark-cell change. The effects in pregnant rats were less severe. Carbon tetrachloride alone induced significant fatty change and focal necrosis in non-pregnant rats but not in pregnant rats. Nicotine also aggravated the CCl4 induced pathological changes in livers of both non-pregnant and pregnant animals. Thus nicotine alone, when given at a concentration of 108 μmol/l, exerted hepatotoxic effects; the alkaloid also aggravated the hepatotoxicity of CCl4. Pregnant rats were more resistant to the hepatotoxic effects produced by nicotine and CCl4. |
