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Part VIII. Potential drug toxicity to the liver
Author(s) -
Popper Hens
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt196233385
Subject(s) - carbon tetrachloride , toxicity , drug , liver damage , fatty liver , carbon tetrachloride poisoning , necrosis , pharmacology , lobules of liver , medicine , lesion , toxicology , biology , pathology , chemistry , disease , organic chemistry
The problem of drug toxicity to the liver has two different aspects‐the effect of known poisons or agents that have foreseeable consequences and the unpredictable sequelae of therapy with drugs, especially new ones. Carbon tetrachloride intoxication illustrates the first aspect. Like other poisonous substances occasionally given as medicines or used in various life situations, it produces characteristic hepatic changes. These changes, either fatty metamorphosis or necrosis or both, usually involve a circumscribed zone of the liver lobule. The lesion can be produced at will in experimental animals. Its extent is fairly well correlated with the dose and is only modified by predictable circumstances such as alcohol consumption. Hepatic tests in both human and experimental animals indicate incipient liver damage. The main clinical problem is detection of the exposure.