Regeneration of Tissue Nonprotein Sulfhydryl Compounds in Rats After Exposure to Cold and Restraint. ∗

Abstract

Summary

1. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to cold and restraint to effect a lowering of concentration of the total nonprotein sulfhydryl compounds (NPSH) in the liver. At the termination of this exposure the animals were divided into 2 categories (fasting and nonfasting) and were permitted to recover under normal laboratory conditions. During the recovery period animals were sacrificed at intervals to trace the rate of regeneration of the liver and kidney NPSH. 2. In neither the fasting nor the nonfasting categories was there a significant regeneration of the liver NPSH in 8 hours. In the nonfasting recovery was virtually complete in 16 hours and complete in 24 hours. In the fasting animals recovery was slower in beginning and was not completed by 24 hours. The rate of loss of NPSH from the liver was considerably greater, in these experiments, than the rate of recovery. 3. Exposure to cold and restraint appeared to lower the kidney NPSH. Recovery was completed in fasting and nonfasting animals in less than 8 hours, with a transient overcompensation in both categories.