Changes in glycogen content of the liver in anaphylaxis.

Changes in the glycogen content of the liver in canine anaphylactic shock were followed by routine histological and chemical methods.

The normal canine liver has a fairly constant glycogen content. Stained by Best's carmine method, the parenchyma is usually seen to be fairly well filled with red granules. The granules are usually largest and most numerous in the central portions of the lobules. Quantitative determinations by the official method adopted by the American Agricultural Chemists show a glycogen content varying from 4 percent to 7 percent of the gross liver weight, an average of 5.3 percent in our series.

During typical canine anaphylactic shock (kymograph control), the hepatic glycogen practically disappears. The central half of each lobule often becomes free from stainable granules within three minutes. The whole liver becomes microscopically glycogen-free by the end of fifteen minutes. Less than 0.01 percent glycogen can usually be isolated from the liver at this stage.

No conclusion is as yet drawn as to the mechanism of this glycogen disappearance, nor as to its bearing on fundamental theories of anaphylaxis. Our findings, however, are in line with the initial hyperglycaemia in guinea pig anaphylaxis, recently reported by Zunz and La Barre. 1