Plasma lipoprotein pattern in relation to liver histology after toxic hepatitis and experimental biliary obstruction in rabbits.

Plasma lipoproteins were studied in relation to liver histology in rabbits in the course of toxic hepatitis and compared to those after experimental biliary obstruction. The lipoprotein electrophoretic pattern became deeply abnormal during the acute phase of toxic hepatitis and correlated with the degree of liver injury, improving during recovery. Liver damage was more severe after carbon tetrachloride than after alcohol and milder after allylo-isopropyl-acetamide, a porphyrinogenic substance. Lipoprotein abnormalities were not followed by significantly reduced levels of cholesterol esters in the plasma. In comparison, animals with biliary obstruction developed milder liver damage presented gross abnormalities of plasma lipids and lipoproteins, followed by relative deficiency of cholesterol esterification. It is concluded that lipoprotein changes in acute liver injury, although non-specific, are a sensitive index of liver damage and recovery. Serious acute liver injury can exist without significant fall in cholesterol esters.