Induction of hepatic microsomal enzymes after administration of a combination of heptachlor and phenobarbital.

I t i s known t h a t some o r g a n o c h l o r i n e i n s e c t i c i d e s a r e a b l e t o i n d u c e s y n t h e s i s o s h e p a t i c m i c r o s o m a l e n z y m e s t h a t c a t a l y s e t h e m e t a b o l i s m o s d r u g s a n d o t h e r chemical a g e n t s . (HART & FOUTS 1963,1965: HART et ai.1963) This induction of the enzymatic activity of hepatic cells, which are responsible for the metabolism of various drugs, pesticides included, is recently put to the centre of study. The practical importance of such an induction is stressed by the fact that the interaction of various drugs with pesticides can alter the effect as well as the toxicity os these drugs(CO~EY 1967: CUCINELL et al. 1965) in our experiments we tried to establish the influence of a single dose of the pesticide heptachlor given simultaneously with another enzymatic inductorphenobarbital in various ratios upon the enzymatic activity of hepatic microsomal e~zymes.