[Effect of acute and chronic lindane poisoning on the function of the liver microsome mono-oxygenase system in rats maintained on a diet deficient in lysine, methionine, threonine and vitamins A, C and E].

Polynutrient deficiency in essential amino acids and vitamins A, C and E led to induction of liver tissue microsomal monooxygenase system in male rats of WAG strain within first 2 hrs and to inhibition of the induction within the subsequent hours after a single dose administration of a pesticide lindane (18 mg/kg) as compared with control animals maintained on a normal diet. The deficiency in essential nutrients caused also a delay in the monooxygenase induction in rats treated daily within 3 months with lindane at a dose of 0.9 mg per kg of body mass. No distinct nutritionally-dependent differences in the rate of the monooxygenase induction were observed after 6 months of the chronic treatment with the pesticide. Activity of monooxygenases in nutritionally-deprived and lindane-treated rats was decreased as compared with the similarly treated rats which were maintained on a normal diet. The induction of monooxygenases in experimental rats was accompanied by an increase in relative mass of liver tissue. The increase in liver tissue mass appears to occur as an adaptive response to the polynutrient deficiency and the effect of xenobiotics in order to maintain the enzymatic system at an adequate functional level.