INTRAVENOUS THERAPY OF CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER

Abstract

Investigations in recent years have made great advances in elucidating the physiology of the liver and the metabolic processes associated with this organ. The feeding of various experimental diets to animals has demonstrated that the liver is unusually susceptible to nutritional inadequacies and imbalances. The glycogen content of hepatic cells has been observed to decrease remarkably after short periods of starvation, and accumulations of fat within these cells have been produced in experimental animals by diets high in fat and by the administration of various hepatotoxins. A cirrhosis-like syndrome has been produced in animals on diets of low protein and high fat content,¹ and the ability of choline and methionine to prevent the accumulation or to accelerate the removal of hepatic fat (lipotropic effect) has been described.² Studies of cirrhosis in human beings have served to emphasize the importance of the nutritional state. Rao³ observed that cirrhosis