Level of Liver Glycogen in Ketosis

Abstract

SINCE von Mering and Minkowski¹ showed that the liver of the depancreatized dog contains little glycogen, it has been widely held that the degree of ketosis is inversely proportional to the level of liver glycogen. Thus Mirsky² believes that ketogenesis in diabetes mellitus arises either as a result of glycogenolysis or when the liver glycogen has fallen to a critical level. Burn and Ling³ have shown that the same relationship holds for the normal rat on a high fat diet. However, evidence is accumulating which shows that this inverse relation is by no means invariable. Appreciable quantities of hepatic glycogen have been found in severely diabetic subjects⁴, and in ketotic rats after alloxan administration⁵. It has been shown in this laboratory that in the intact normal rat it is possible to obtain a very high ketonæmia concomitant with high levels of liver glycogen.