“The effect of alcohol on hepatic glycogenesis”

Abstract

In view of the current tendency to regard alcohol as a food it seemed desirable to make a study of its effect on hepatic glycogenesis, for if alcohol can replace the carbohydrates in food it might spare the carbohydrate radicals of the tissue proteins. An accumulation of glycogen in the liver after exclusive feeding with alcohol might therefore be expected. Indeed the work of Nebelthau, 1 who found 1.34 to 3.51 per cent. of glycogen in the liver of the hen after the administration of 10 c.c. per kilo of 96 per cent. alcohol on the seventh day of fasting, lends support to this view.

This suggestion was put to an experimental test. The investigation was carried out on rabbits which were fed exclusively on alcohol for periods of 4 to 6 days. Alcohol (30 or 60 per cent.) was given per os by means of a stomach tube in amounts varying between 3 to 9 c.c. per kilo daily. Control rabbits were subjected to the same preliminary treatment, but were given water instead of alcohol by stomach tube. At the expiration of 4 to 6 days the rabbits were killed under ether anesthesia and the livers examined for glycogen according to Pflüger's 2 shorter method. The amount of dextrose obtained by hydrolysis of the glycogen was determined by Allihn's method. Later in the course of the investigation, for reasons of economy of time, the amounts of copper were determined volumetrically by the iodin method instead of gravimetrically as originally recommended by Allihn.