Glycogenolysis in the Liver and Glycogen Body of the Chicken After Death

Abstract

The changes in the glycogen content of the liver and glycogen body of the chicken during starvation and after death were studied, using KOH digestion and trichloroacetic acid extraction preliminary to alcohol precipitation. The 2 glycogen fractions previously reported by others were found in the liver: one is extractable with trichloroacetic acid and with KOH, and the other with KOH only. The former is 70 to 75% of the total glycogen. The glycogen body contains only one fraction, that which may be extracted entirely with trichloroacetic acid. During starvation glycogen is greatly reduced in the liver, but shows no changes in the glycogen body. Livers and glycogen bodies were extracted 12 to 72 hrs. after death of the animal and it was found that of these 2 reservoirs the former loses 25 to 50% of its glycogen while the latter shows no changes. Consequently, in the chicken, unlike the mammal, the breakdown of glycogen is limited. In the glycogen body the persistence of glycogen during starvation and after death may be due to the absence in this tissue of glycolytic enzymes or to the presence of anti-glycolytic enzymes.