A longitudinal study of starvation in piglets and the introduction of a modified liver biopsy technique

The effect of starvation on blood glucose, muscle glycogen and liver glycogen concentration was measured in a group of newborn piglets. Liver biopsies were obtained by using a modified version of the Menghini technique. No difference in length of survival time was observed between piglets that received water and those that did not. Piglets with higher birth weight survived longer. No relationship was found between initial liver glycogen content and survival time. Moreover, we concluded that plasma glucose levels are not reliable indicators of length of survival time. The interrelated changes in liver glycogen, muscle glycogen, and plasmaglucose concentrations found in this study correspond with those reported elsewhere. Moreover, the number of experimental animals needed for the study was markedly reduced. We conclude that the liver biopsy technique is valuable in longitudinal hypoglycaemia studies of piglets.