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

Abstract

Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to cold and restraint to effect a lowering of concentration of total nonprotein sulfhydryl compounds (NPSH) in the liver. After this exposure the animals were divided into 2 categories (fasting and nonfasting) and permitted to recover under normal conditions. During the recovery period they were sacrificed at intervals to trace the rate of regeneration of liver and kidney NPSH. In neither fasting nor nonfasting was there a significant regeneration in 8 hours. In nonfasting animals recovery was virtually complete in 16 hours; fully so in 24 hours. In fasting animals recovery was slow in the beginning and was not completed in 24 hours. 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.