A Study of Carbon Tetrachloride. Vi. Aminoaciduria in Response to Carbon Tetrachloride Inhalation.

A number of studies including those of Cornish and Block (1960) have measured the marked increase in serum enzyme levels following acute exposure to CC4 vapor. If it is assumed that these enzymes are being released from damaged tissue, one would anticipate that smaller molecular weight compounds, such as amino acids, would also be released. Increased urinary excretion of free amino acids or alteration of the amino acid excretory pattern might serve as a sensitive means of detecting tissue damage, due to CCL4 inhalation. For these reasons, it seemed advisable to measure the free amino acid excretion of rats exposed to various concentrations of CCL4 vapor and to identify the amino acids excreted before and after such an exposure. Simultaneous studies of the free amino acids of the blood would provide information which could be correlated with the pattern of urinary amino acid excretion. MATERIALS AND METHODS