IN-VIVO CORRELATION BETWEEN LIVER AND BLOOD ENERGY STATUS AS EVIDENCED BY CHRONIC TREATMENT OF CARBON-TETRACHLORIDE AND ADENOSINE TO RATS

Several tissues, such as red blood cells, depend on the liver supply of the purine ring for adenine nucleotide synthesis. We explored whether progressive liver damage, induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), is accompanied by alterations in liver and blood energy status. After 4 weeks of CCl4 treatment, liver ATP, ATP/ADP, and energy status were decreased. Blood ATP remained normal, whereas the blood energy status was also diminished. After 8 weeks the changes were more evident, and a significant decrease of total liver nucleotides was also found. In the blood, the changes paralleled those in the liver. Simultaneous administration of adenosine counteracted the CCl4 effects. A good correlation (r = 0.79, p < 0.01) between the liver and blood ATP changes and a very significant relationship between liver and blood ATP/ADP ratio (r = 0.92, p < 0.001) were observed. Therefore, the data suggest that liver function could influence the energy availability in other tissues, such as red blood cells, perhaps as a result of its capacity to provide purine rings for extrahepatic synthesis of adenine nucleotides.