Glycogen-forming function of hepatocytes in the rat regenerating cirrhotic liver after a partial hepatectomy

Rat liver punctate biopsies were used for cytofluorimetric determinations of the content of glycogen and its fractions in hepatocytes, and also for microchemical measurements of the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase, glycogen phosphorylase, and glycogen synthase, in liver tissue with cirrhosis produced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) poisoning, during regeneration of the liver after the cessation of poisoning and after a partial resection of the cirrhosed liver. The liver cirrhosis was shown to be characterized by an accumulation of glycogen (predominantly of its metabolically less active fraction) in hepatocytes and by a decrease in the activities of the glycogenolytic enzymes in the liver parenchyma. On the cessation of poisoning, there was a partial or complete return to normal levels of the glycogen metabolism parameters. Some of them returned to normal more quickly if a partial hepatectomy was performed after the cessation of poisoning.