Liver and muscle glycogen content after glucose infusion in dogs

The purpose of the present work was to determine the changes in the liver and muscle glycogen content during and after glucose infusion to elucidate tissue distribution of glucose in dogs. Glucose was infused intravenously during 2 hours in a dose of 1.7 mM . kg-1 . min-1. At designated time intervals venous blood samples were taken for determinations of glucose concentration, and the liver as well as muscle tissue samples were taken using a needle biopsy technique for determination of glycogen content. Liver glycogen content was increased significantly already at 30 th min of glucose infusion, and 60 min after termination of the infusion, it was by 53.1 +/- 0.58 and 174.3 +/- 48.3 mM glucosyl units per kg of wet liver higher than the initial value. Muscle glycogen content was also increasing progressively during the whole period of glucose infusion, and 1 h after termination of the infusion it was by 30.8 +/- 2.5 mM glucosyl units per kg of wet muscle above the initial value. It was calculated that 24.7 per cent of the glucose infused to dogs was stored as liver glycogen and 63.4 per cent as muscle glycogen.