Carbontetrachloride Hepatotoxicity In Hypo And Hyperthyroidic Rats

Carbontetrachloride is a model hepatotoxin. Toxicologists use it to study mechanisms of hepatocellular injury, whereas pharmacologists use it to study the efficacy of hepato-protective agents.Present results show that hypothyroidism itself causes mild centrilobular necrosis in the liver but hypothyroidic rats when treated with carbon tetrachloride showed no serious pathological lesions. While hyperthyroidic rats showed conditions resembling hepatitis and hyperthyroidic rats when treated with carbon tetrachloride showed no protective effect of thyroxine on carbon tetrachloride induced hepatic lesions. These results suggest that CCl4 toxicity is diminuted under hypothyroidic conditions. Histopathology of thyroid under present experimental conditions was also studied. Follicular collapse was observed in the thyroid gland of rats that were treated with carbontetrachloride. Significant loss of colloid was recorded in the thyroid of hypothyroidic rats. Several lesions in the thyroid gland were recorded in rats treated with PTU and carbontetrachloride.