Protection Against Induced Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Rats by Chloramphenicol2

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Abstract
Two percent chloramphenicol administered simultaneously with 0.05 percent N-2-fluorenyidiacetamide in a semisynthetic diet effectively prevented the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in 21 of 22 adult male Wistar rats. Hyperplastic nodules, a forerunner of carcinoma, were in the liver of only 3 animals. In a group of 12 rats given the same carcinogen-containing diet without chloramphenicol, by a modified pair-feeding regimen, all developed cirrhosis and 9 had hepatocellular carcinoma within 46 weeks after the start. Of the 3 rats not bearing hepatic tumors, 2 had hyperplastic nodules with varying degrees of atypicality. It is suggested that the chloramphenicol, as an inhibitor of protein synthesis prevented blocked protein-binding of carcinogen in the hepatic cells and thereby prevented the development of cirrhosis and carcinoma.