Effect of starvation on the composition of the liver cell

Abstract

The effects of starvation upon the size and composition of the liver cells of 35 male and 35 female rats was investigated. Seven rats of each sex were killed for analysis of their livers before the commencement of the expt. and on the 1st, 2d, 4th and 6th days of the fast. Rats submitted to a precisely similar fast were used for analysis of the liver cell nuclei at the beginning and end of the fast. As the animals lost wt. their livers became smaller, but size and composition of nuclei did not alter, and neither did amt. of nuclear material in the liver. It follows that the reduction in size of the whole liver was the result of loss of cytoplasmic constituents from its cells. Glycogen almost disappeared from the liver cells of both sexes during the first 24 hrs. Thereafter the amt. increased somewhat in the male cell but not in that of the female, which showed instead an increasing amt. of neutral lipid until the end of the fast. The cells lost protein throughout the fast, and a somewhat greater loss from the female liver cells during the final 2 days was accompanied by a fall in serum protein. K and water varied with the mass of the cells. The amts. of Fe, Cu and Zn in the hepatic cells of both sexes were unchanged.