Intraportal insulin protects from the liver injury of portacaval shunt in dogs.

4 days after portacaval shunt, the livers of normal dogs had pronounced atrophy and other structural abnormalities. These changes were greatly reduced in the left liver lobes, but not in the right, by a constant infusion to the left portal vein of insulin in non-hypoglycaemic doses. These experimental findings should have implications in clinical medicine.