Cyanamide and its calcium form: do they differ with respect to their action on the liver cell? Experimental study in the rat.

Cyanamide is a drug frequently used as aversion therapy in chronic alcoholism. A chronic hepatocytic lesion induced by cyanamide has been described by a member of our team over the last few years. It consists of distinctive cytoplasmic inclusion bodies, similar to those observed in Lafora's disease. The inclusion body-bearing liver cells resemble the ground-glass hepatocytes observed in type B viral infections. This hepatocytic lesion is predictable and reproducible in the rat liver. The high frequency of alcoholic patients with inclusion bodies observed in Spain is striking in contrast with the scarcity of cases published abroad. The medicine commonly used in Spain contains plain cyanamide, while Temposil used in Canada and Dipsan used in Scandinavia contain its calcium form (calcium carbimide). In an attempt to discover if the chemical nature of the drug is an important determinant in the development of the lesion, the present study was carried out using groups of Wistar rats. One group received cyanamide and the other one calcium carbimide. The drug was placed in the stomach via a cannula, daily, at a dose of 16 mg/kg body weight, for 25 weeks. The characteristic inclusion bodies were only found in the group receiving plain cyanamide.