[The glycogen-forming function of the hepatocytes during the regeneration of the cirrhotic rat liver after a partial hepatectomy].

The paper deals with a cytofluorimetric study of the content of glycogen and its fractions as well as with a microbiochemical study of glucose-6-phosphatase, glycogen phosphorylase, and glycogen synthase activities in the rat liver parenchyma cells in norm, in the course of cirrhosis development, and at various time intervals after the end of the carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) poisoning and after a partial hepatectomy (PH). Serial liver biopsies were obtained from each animal prior to CCl4 action (control), 6 months after a chronic intoxication with CCl4 inducing liver cirrhosis, and then 3 and 6 months after the end of CCl4 poisoning of rats, and after the cirrhotic liver PH. It has been shown that the total glycogen content in the cirrhotic liver hepatocytes increases by 1.4-1.5 times, compared with control, however, it returns to the norm 6 months after the PH. The glycogen labile fraction (LF), that accounts for 85% of the total glycogen, amounted to 65% in liver cirrhosis. The most striking changes in liver cirrhosis occurred in the glycogen stable fraction (SF) which rose by 3.9 times in the cirrhotic liver. The LF/SF ratio returned to the norm 6 months after the PH. The activity of glucose-6-phosphatase fell by 2.7 times in the liver cirrhosis; its activity after the PH initially increased, then decreased again to reach 6 months after the PH the same level as in the cirrhotic liver before the PH. The activities of glycogen phosphorylase and glycogen synthase returned to the normal level 6 months after the PH. The results of the current study make it possible to conclude that the PH of the cirrhotic liver facilitates only a partial restoration of the glycogen forming function of hepatocytes.