Liver glycogen in gangrenous intestinal obstruction

Considerable drops in liver glycogen contents of guinea pigs suffering from gangrenous intestinal obstruction were recorded in regard to control values (P less than 0.001). An additional experiment was conducted by using carbontetrachloride (CT) to determine whether or not the shortening of survival related to liver glycogen content in animals with strangulation obstruction. The mean tissue glycogen content in the sham-operated group was 816.2 +/- 13.3 micrograms/g, w. wt., whereas in the CT-treated group it was 73.5 +/- 11.0 micrograms/g w. wt. This difference is highly significant (P less than 0.001). The mean survival was 54.4 +/- 5.8 h and 21.9 +/- 5.5 h in animals with gangrenous intestinal obstruction before and after CT treatment, respectively. These results suggested that the liver glycogen depletion was a significant factor in decreasing the survival time of guinea pigs with strangulation obstruction.