Purpose : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of liver injury after injection of ethanol, hot normal saline and hot hypertonic saline into normal rat liver. Materials and Methods : Sixty white rats weighing 200-300g were used. There were three groups (ethanol, hot normal saline, and hot hypertonic saline), and these were divided into subgroups (5 rats in each) according to amount of injected material and duration. Under ether anesthesia, each drug (ethanol -0.05ml, 0.1ml, 0.2ml ; hot normal saline -0.1ml, 0.2ml, 0.4ml ; hot hypertonic saline -0.1ml, 0.2ml, 0.4ml) was introduced directly into the liver. Pathologic specimens were obtained 7 and 14 days after injection. Results : With regard to histologic change after 7 days, the ethanol group showed less tissue damage such as coagulation necrosis and inflammatory infiltration-than the hot saline group. There was however, no significant difference among the three groups in tissue damage at 14 days. Nor was there any significant histologic difference between the different saline concentration groups. Conclusion : Histologically, there was no significant difference among the three groups in tissue damage at 14 days, and it is suggested that this is due to irreversible change in damaged tissue. Tissue damage was caused mainly by the high temperature of saline rather than by high osmolarity.