Effect of prolonged restraint on glycogen content and activities of four enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism in the liver of rats.

Triphasic changes in glycogen content and activities of four enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism (glucose-6-phosphatase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, hexokinase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) were studied in the liver of male Wistar rats exposed to 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 70 and 90-day movement restrain in pencil cases. It was assumed that these three phases corresponded to the alarm, resistance and exhaustion stages of Selye's general adaptation syndrome. In hypokinetic rats, however, a transition of the alarm reaction to the resistance stage was registered later, and hepatic glycogen accumulation was reduced in comparison with the standard pattern observed in chronic stress.