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Studies on the physiology of the liver VI. The effect of total removal of the liver in lower vertebrates
Author(s) -
Magath Thomas B.,
Mann Frank C.
Publication year - 1925
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.1050410108
Subject(s) - biology , blood sugar , carbohydrate metabolism , maltose , sugar , liver metabolism , medicine , metabolism , endocrinology , mechanism (biology) , physiology , biochemistry , sucrose , diabetes mellitus , philosophy , epistemology
The effect of removal of the liver has been noted in fishes, frogs, and turtles. As in the higher vertebrates, removal of the liver produced a fall in blood sugar and a loss in muscular tone. The lower vertebrates failed to respond to intravenous injections of glucose, as do the birds and mammals. They also fail to respond to maltose or levulose. The liver maintained the blood‐sugar level in the lower vertebrates, which is necessary for the maintenance of life. The mechanism of carbohydrate metabolism in the lower vertebrates may be different from that in the higher ones, in that glucose, when injected intravenously, apparently exercises a progressively less beneficial effect on the characteristic hypoglycemic condition which follows the removal of the liver of mammals and cold‐blooded vertebrates.