Summary
In an attempt to inhibit liver fibrosis, the author injected elastase extracted from porcine pancreas into the rats with chronic liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CC14).
On the surface of the liver administered with CC14 alone, formation of nodules was noted from the 8th to 10th week of CC14 administration, leading to completion of the picture of liver cirrhosis. In rats with combined use of elastase from the beginning of CC14 injection, no definite nodules were formed on the surface of the liver even after 15 to 20 weeks. Liver hydroxyproline and acid mucopolysaccharide increased in the course of weeks in rats treated with CCl4 alone, but the degree of increase was definitely less in rats treated with elastase in combination. In the process of recovery from the cirrhotic liver, elastase was found to facilitate fibrocrasia. Combined use of elastase, however, was ineffective after 8–10 weeks when liver cirrhosis had been completed.
As the results of observation on the turnover of liver insoluble collagen labeled with14C–glycine, administration of elastase was found to shorten its half-life definitely.
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Tsujii, T., Fukuhara, M., Matsumori, T. et al. Studies on the inhibition of experimental liver fibrosis. Gastroenterol Jpn 9, 145–154 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02775049
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02775049