[Impact of stress on hepatic lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, prevention]

An oligomer proantocyanidine complex (OPCC) isolated from the aqueous-and-alcoholic extract Kalifen and a polyphenol complex (PPC) isolated from the eleutherococcus extract were tested for their effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the rat liver under acute stress caused by hanging up of the animals by the cervical fold for 22 hours. This acute stress was accompanied by decreases in aerobic glycolysis and pentose cycle and by an increase in lipolysis. Hepatic etherifying function impaired. Lipids became predominant energy substrates. The administration of OPCC and PPC during stress promoted the preservation of carbohydrate metabolic reactions (gluconeogenesis, pentosephosphate pathway, Krebs cycle) and to the decrease of lipolysis. OPCC was shown to have stress-protective properties and to be able to diminish adrenal hypertrophy, to increase the production of oxidized equivalents (NAD+), and to enhance the activity of G-6-PDH in the rat liver. The complex is superior to the well-known antistress agent eleutherococcus, which makes it possible to regard these drugs as possible promising drugs in preventive and rehabilitative medicine.