The glycogenolytic response to stimulation of the splanchnic nerves in adrenalectomized calves

1. The effects of stimulation of the peripheral ends of one or both splanchnic nerves have been investigated in adrenalectomized calves at different ages.2. During the first 24 hr after birth unilateral splanchnic nerve stimulation led to a prompt rise in the plasma glucose concentration and this response was more than doubled when both nerves were stimulated simultaneously. Under these latter conditions hyperglycaemia was found to be associated with a measurable loss of glycogen from the liver.3. Both the glycogenolytic and hyperglycaemic effects of splanchnic stimulation became more pronounced with age; at 5 weeks of age liver glycogen was depleted by approximately 2/3 and plasma glucose raised by about 200 mg/100 ml. after stimulation of the right splanchnic nerve for 9 min.4. Splanchnic stimulation also caused a rise in mean arterial blood pressure and haematocrit during the period of stimulation at all ages studied; the rise in haematocrit was greatest in the oldest animals.5. The hyperglycaemic response to splanchnic stimulation persisted after pancreatectomy and was also demonstrated in calves in which the whole of the portal effluent blood flow was collected during splanchnic stimulation. The plasma from blood collected in this way had no apparent hyperglycaemic effect when infused into a branch of the mesenteric vein in recipient calves.6. In adrenalectomized calves in which the liver had been partially denervated before stimulation both the hyperglycaemic and the glycogenolytic responses were substantially reduced, although the rise in haematocrit was unaffected, during stimulation of both splanchnic nerves.7. It is concluded that glycogenolysis occurs in the liver as a result of stimulation via the hepatic innervation in the new-born calf and that this response increases with age during the first few weeks after birth.