Reduction in plasma desoxyribonuclease activity on circulation through the liver: index of liver function.

Abstract

Summary1. DNase activity was determined by the methyl green method at pH 7.5 in the portal vein, hepatic vein and aortic plasma and bile of fed, normal (except for the anesthesia and terminal surgery) albino rats, and of rats rendered anoxic, injected with carbon tetrachloride, or made icteric by hepatic duct ligation. 2. The hepatic vein plasma regularly demonstrated lower DNase activity than did that of the portal vein in normal rats (73% hepatic extraction). 3. In normal rats, the bile demonstrated DNase activity similar to that of the portal vein plasma. 4. Hepatic damage by anoxia or carbon tetrachloride injection suppressed the capacity of the liver to “extract” DNase from the blood. This hepatic function is abolished 24 hours after the injection of CC14; after 48 hours there appears to be partial recovery. 5. Hepatic duct obstruction for as long as 96 hours did not impair the liver's capacity to “extract” DNase. Thus, excretion of DNase in the bile is probably not the principal means by which it is...