The effect of chloroform on the liver and the activity of serum enzymes in the horse.

The study investigates the impact of chloroform on horse liver and serum enzyme activity due to renewed interest in its use as an anesthetic alongside the lack of detailed information on its harmful effects on horses.

Research Overview

• The research was conceived due to a renewed interest in the usage of chloroform as a horse anaesthetic, the lack detailed information on its harmful effect on the horse’s liver, and the availability of new methods for studying liver lesions in large animals.
• The paper recalls that chloroform was originally introduced as an anaesthetic in 1847 for humans and was later adapted for use in horses, becoming the most widely used anaesthetic for the species despite known toxic actions on human myocardium and liver.
• While the hepatotoxicity of chloroform has been documented in other species, such as dogs and mice, the detailed effects on horse liver had not been thoroughly investigated.

The Anaesthetic Landscape

• Over time, chloroform usage in horses has been superseded by intravenous agents, notably chloral hydrate, due to chloroform’s known risks.
• However, advancements in methods of administering volatile anaesthetics and ensuring sufficient oxygenation have led to a resurgence in interest in chloroform use, despite the introduction of costlier volatile anaesthetics like halothane.

Research Rationale and Aim

• The goal of this study was to contribute to the understanding of chloroform’s impact on horse liver by providing a detailed investigation of its toxic effects, motivated by a 1966 opinion by a researcher named Hall who suggested that chloroform held a “definite place in horse anaesthesia” and that occurrences of delayed chloroform poisoning were unusual.
• There’s also a mention of a concurrent investigation conducted by Wolff, Lumb, and Ramsay into the effects of single doses of chloroform and halothane on horse liver, with the suggestion that the two studies together would provide complementary insights.