[Verification of the hepatoprotective and therapeutic effect of silymarin in experimental liver injury with tetrachloromethane in dogs]. / Overení hepatoprotektivního a terapeutického úcinku silymarinu pri experimentálním poskození jater tetrachlórmetanem u psu.

The efficiency of preventive administration of silymarin and of silymarin medication were tested in dogs suffering from CCl4 intoxication of liver. Sixteen dogs of the Beagle breed at the age of 8 to 10 months and of the weight 11.5 to 14.0 kg were divided into four groups with four animals each. Those groups were administered per os a single dose of CCl4, 0.35 ml per kg liveweight contained in sunflower oil. The intact control groups was given sunflower oil free of any additive. Silymarin was administered per os in the form of suspension in the Dorfman reagent twice a day at the dose of 100 mg per kg. Silymarin was administered to the animals of the treated group four days after intoxication, to those of the preventively treated group four days before intoxication. The intact control group and the CCl4 intoxicated control were administered the pure Dorfman reagent. Pure CCl4 induced a significant increase in the AST and ALT activity in 12 and 24 hours after administration, and histological lesions in the liver--vacuolization of hepatocytes and necrobiosis of nuclei. The curative effects of silymarin on these changes were low. The protective effects of silymarin were manifested by the significantly lower AST and ALT activities in the 12th and 24th hour of the trial and by the insignificantly lower extent of lesions in liver parenchyma if compared with the control CCl4 intoxicated group.

[Morphometry of bovine luteal tissue explants after the addition of various doses of 15-glycol cloprostenol (Glystrophan inj. Spofa)]. / Morfometrie explantátu luteální tkáne krav po adici ruzných dávek 15-glykal cloprostenolu (Glystrophan inj. Spofa).

Histological and morphometrical examinations were made to investigate the explants of yellow bodies in four gravid cows slaughtered the seventh day after PMSG superovulation and after artificial insemination. The medium of luteal tissue explants was added the test substance 15-glycal cloprostenol at doses of 2.5; 25 and 250 micrograms per ml of the medium. Parallelly cloprostenol in the Oestrophan inj. Spofa preparation was investigated at a dose of 25 micrograms per ml of the medium. The action of the medium lasted 24 hours at temperatures of 37 and 24 degrees C. Besides an overall histological examination the following morphometric indicators were studied: total counts of luteal cells per 1 mm2 area, average area of luteal cells and their nuclei and determination of the nucleocytoplasmic ratio of these cells, parenchymal area (area of luteal cells and stroma) of the luteal tissue per 1 mm2 area. The examinations have indicated that 15-glycal cloprostenol at a dose of 25 micrograms per ml of the medium has stimulating, luteotropic effects on the luteal tissue. The effects were manifested by luteal tissue hyperplasia and the largest area of luteal tissue parenchyma. On the other hand the effects of a tenfold higher dose (250 micrograms per ml of the medium) of the same substance were luteolytic similarly like those of parallelly tested cloprostenol.

[Determination of hepatotoxicity using the texture analysis method]. / Stanovení hepatotoxicity metodou analýzy obrazu.

To determine the hepatotoxic effects of hydrazine sulphate by means of a complex of methods of morphological examinations, ten sheep were used as a model of acute liver lesions induced by this compound. The hepatotoxic effects were demonstrated by a general histological examination of liver tissue and by a quantitative evaluation of percent proportions of intact liver parenchyma. Among quantitative indicators, the areas of histochemically detectable neutral lipids and of glycogen in liver tissue were also evaluated. Quantitative evaluation was performed by means of an automatic texture analysis using a texture analyzer T.A.S. plus (Leitz Texture Analyzer System) and a programme devised by the authors in the TASIC language. Similar steatotic changes in liver tissue were found in sheep which were treated with a dose of 0.4 mmol of hydrazine sulphate per 1 kg of live weight, as earlier reported for laboratory animals, carnivores, and monkeys. The above methods of morphological examination can be used for a basal determination of hepatotoxic effects of substances tested in pharmacological research.