[Biochemical investigations of cancer cachexia. II. Depletion of glycogenolysis and stimulation of gluconeogenesis in Walker carcinoma 256 bearing rats (author's transl)].

150-200 g heavy, Walker-carcinoma bearing, male Sprague-Dawley-rats showed rapid, tumour weight dependent, loss of liver glycogen until complete depletion in tumour groups heavier than 40 g/animal. Simultaneously the glycogen mobilization after massive glucagon stimulation, was successivly diminished and finally abolished in different groups with increasing tumor weight. Concomitantly the spontaneous and stimulated activity of liver phosphorylase a was found markedly reduced in advanced tumour cachexia, the extent of stimulation of liver phosphorylase a activity by intracardial injections of epinephrine not being altered. Tumour induced inhibition of glycogen mobilization thus appears to have been excluded. To account for the relative late pronounced hypoglycemia in peripherial rat blood in face of the early loss of liver glycogen, accelerated gluconeogenesis has been postulated. In accord with this spontaneous rise in liver tyrosine amino transferase was found in tumour bearing rats along with a doubled maximal stimulation value after medrol injection as compared to control groups. This behavior could not be shown for liver alanine aminotransferase and liver fructose 1,6-di-phosphatase. The former showed no differences between control and tumour groups neither of spontaneous nor of stimulated activity. The latter showed only a very reluctant rise after massive stimulation by triamcinolone for 3 days in the control groups, the tumour bearing groups showing no deviation from spontaneous control values.