BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON SHOCK

Abstract

1. With increasing severity of shock following hemorrhage in fasted rats there is an increasing depression in the rate of oxygen uptake, in oxygen, of liver slices from the bled animals. The respiration of kidney tissue is only slightly depressed even in severe states of shock. 2. The rates of oxygen uptake of liver tissue from bled rats are nicely correlated with the increases in blood amino nitrogen that follow severe hemorrhage. 3. A supplement of coenzyme factors, in the form of a hot water extract of normal rat liver, increases the oxygen uptake of liver tissue from rats in mild shock, but is without effect on the respiration of liver slices from rats in moderate or severe shock. 4. The ability of rat liver to oxidize succinate is not impaired even in severe shock, but the extra oxygen uptake does not improve the basal rate of respiration of the tissue. 5. Effects on the rate of oxygen uptake of normal rat liver slices comparable to those seen after hemorrhage could be produced by exposing the tissue to an atmosphere of nitrogen for periods of 15 and 60 minutes. This treatment had more marked effects on the respiration of kidney slices than are found after hemorrhage, but the kidney, unlike the liver, exhibited a marked degree of recovery in the presence of glucose. 6. The significance of these findings is briefly discussed.