Effect of Liver Damage on Plasma FFA Response to Epinephrine. ∗

Summary

Three groups of male Sprague-Dawley rats, control, partially hepatectomized and chronically poisoned with CCl₄, were injected with 1 mg/kg epinephrine in oil. Plasma FFA and blood glucose were measured over a 4-hour post-injection period. Control animals showed the usual hyperglycemic and hyperlipemic response to epinephrine within the first hour after injection. Blood glucose and FFA were back to pre-injection levels at 4 hours. After partial hepatectomy, pre-injection blood levels of glucose were normal but FFA concentration was elevated. The hyperglycemic response to epinephrine was normal but the FFA response was markedly altered. A further elevation in plasma FFA was observed after 1/2 hour and these high levels persisted during the entire 4-hour post-injection period. Chronic CCl₄ induced liver damage elicited a different kind of epinephrine response. There was an abnormally sustained hyperglycemia during the 4-hour post-injection period but the plasma FFA never showed any elevation above pre-injection levels. The data suggest that CCl₄ damages most liver cells in such a way as to lead to abnormal storage of lipids with a consequent increase in utilization of plasma FFA. Partial hepatectomy, however, reflects a diminution below a critical mass of relatively normal cells and total triglyceride synthesis is not sufficient to utilize the plethora of plasma FFA elicited by epinephrine treatment. It is possible that the two types of liver damage may be distinguished in this way.