EFFECTS ON THE LIVER 



337 



in the gland cells, rarely in the endothelium, but these also occurred in normal 

 cats. Beeli estimated that the (endothelial?) nuclei showed an average loss 

 of 50 per cent in volume, and gave a table showing the statistical distribution 

 of nuclear diameters at various stages of inanition. 



Mottram ('07, '09, '09a) found in short fasting periods, usually 1-2 days, 

 a marked increase of microscopically visible hepatic fat in 17 rabbits and 15 

 guinea pigs; and a very doubtful increase in 3 hedgehogs, 2 pigeons and 18 rats. 

 In several normal controls, only one showed a large amount of fat. Chemical 

 evidence confirms the microscopic appearance, and the increased fat is con- 

 sidered due to infiltration of mobilized depot-fat. The hepatic glycogen (rab- 

 bit) is almost entirely removed in one day of fasting. 



Boehm ('08) described the liver-cell changes in white rats on various diets 

 and fasting on water only (time not stated) and also measured the diameters of 

 cells and nuclei, obtaining the averages (in micra) shown in the accompanying 

 table. 



Average Dimensions (Micra) of the Liver-cells in White Rats on Various Diets 



(Boehm '08) 



Diet 



Albumose. 



Fat 



Albumin. . 

 Asparagin 

 Alanin. . . . 

 Starvation 



Nuclear - . I 

 diameter \ , 



It is evident that in Boehm's experiments the total hepatic cell volume was 

 least in starvation, but not the nuclear volume. 



Cesa-Bianchi ('09) discovered that in the atrophic liver (and kidney) of 

 the fasting white mouse, the cell changes in the earlier stages correspond to 

 those produced by hypotonic or hypertonic salt solutions; while the later changes 

 correspond to those produced by aseptic autolysis. The nuclear changes come 

 late, when all the available food material has been consumed, and true cell- 

 hunger supervenes. The changes progress from hyperchromatosis to either 

 pyenosis or karyorrhexis. (See further details in Chapter XXIII.) When 

 the loss in body weight is 40 per cent, the liver has lost 50 per cent, and the 

 liver-cells 50 per cent, but the nuclei only 15-20 per cent. 



Rathery ('09, '09a) by appropriate fixatives showed that the "clear" cells 

 of the liver in fasting rabbits still contain fuchsinophile granules. 



Policard ('09, '09a) applied mitochondrial methods to the study of the 

 liver-cells of the frog and dog during fasting and refeeding. Siderophile fila- 

 ments and granules undergo changes which are interpreted as secretion phases 

 of the liver-cells. Mayer, Rathery and Schaeffer ('10) studied these mitochon- 

 dria and granules in the liver-cells of geese and rabbits in various conditions 



