A single acute hepatotoxic dose of CCl4 causes oxidative stress in the rat brain.

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), a hepatotoxic agent is widely used to study the toxic mechanisms in experimental animals. We have investigated whether oxidative stress is induced in the brain at a single hepatotoxic dosage (1 ml/kg bw) of CCl4. Increased lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyls (PC) content and glutathione (GSH) depletion were observed in the brain regions of rats treated with CCl4 which was higher than that of liver. A drastic reduction in the activity of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was seen in the brain regions which was higher than that of liver. Similarly, activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), NADH- and NADPH-dehydrogenase were reduced in the brain regions similar to that of liver. Higher induction of oxidative stress in the brain compared to that of liver implies vulnerability of the brain for CCl4 neurotoxicity. Our study shows that a single hepatotoxic dose of CCl4 is equally neurotoxic to rats.