Effect of Ether and Iso-Amylethyl Barbiturate (Amytal) Anesthesia on the Glycogen Content of Skeletal Muscle

The question of the glycogenolytic action of various anesthetic agents has received considerable attention in recent years, and although it is generally admitted that ether is a glycogen depleting agent, opinion on the influence of iso-amylethyl barbiturate (amytal) anesthesia remains divided. As a preliminary step in the investigation of the effect of various substances and procedures on the glycogen stores of the body, a series of experiments on the changes in the glycogen content of skeletal muscle under ether and amytal anesthesia was performed. Obviously, if specimens are to be removed under the influence of general anesthesia for the estimation of their glycogen content, the effect of the anesthetic agent on glycogen must be determined.

Brow and Long 1 showed that the glycogen content of heart muscle in fasted cats was reduced markedly with the closed mask method of ether administration, whereas there was only a slight reduction with the open method. Long, 2 employing the same species, showed that ether caused a distinct depression of the glycogen level of muscle. The results obtained by the majority of investigators concur with this work, although Hinsey and Davenport 3 have been unable to demonstrate any marked changes in the glycogen stores in skeletal muscle under the influence of ether anesthesia.

Amytal has become a popular anesthetic agent in recent years with investigators working on carbohydrate metabolism, because of the belief that it exercises a minimal effect on such metabolic processes. Page 4 showed that the blood sugar is not elevated beyond physiologic limits in dogs and rabbits under amytal anesthesia. Hines, Boyd and Leese 5 found that the substance did not alter the level of blood sugar in dogs, but that the ability to utilize glucose is impaired when this substance is injected by the continuous intravenous method.