340 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



(incomplete) inanition appears much stronger than at either earlier or later 

 periods of life. 



The atrophic changes in the liver of the albino rat during inanition are 

 shown by Figs, go and 91. 



In young albino rats refed after being held at constant body weight by 

 underfeeding from 3 to 12 weeks of age, Stewart ('16) found the liver weight 

 restored to normal (and in some cases apparently above normal) within 4 

 weeks. Jackson and Stewart ('19) likewise found the liver nearly normal 

 (or above) in rats underfed from birth to 3, 6, or 10 weeks, and then refed to 

 25, 50 or 75 g. in body weight (Table 7). In rats permanently stunted in 

 growth by prolonged underfeeding, Jackson and Stewart ('20) found that the 

 liver appeared slightly above normal weight (Table 8). 



Giannelli ('16) incidentally noted a marked decrease in the size of the liver, 

 with distended bile-vessels, in the teleost, Tinea vulgaris, after 5 months of 

 inanition. 



Sundwall ('17) described extreme congestion, cloudy swelling, fatty degen- 

 eration and partial to total atrophy of the liver-cells in white rats on inanition 

 (complete or incomplete) 8-17 days with loss of about 50 per cent in body 

 weight. 



Trowbridge, Moulton and Haigh ('18), Moulton ('20) and Moulton, Trow- 

 bridge, and Haigh ('22a) studied the liver among other organs in steers 

 kept on various planes of nutrition. The liver appeared markedly subnormal 

 in weight in the animals retarded in growth by underfeeding. 



Asada ('19) noted congestion, cloudy swelling, hemosiderosis, vacuolation 

 and variable atrophy, but no fatty degeneration in the liver-cells of rabbits 

 fasting 10-20 days, with loss of 27-52 per cent in body weight. 



Davis, Hall and Whipple ('19) found that hepatic areas of necrosis produced 

 in dogs by chloroform anesthesia show a certain amount of regenerative repair, 

 even during fasting, or on a fat diet; but the regeneration is more rapid and 

 complete on a carbohydrate diet, and best of all on a bread and milk diet. 



McCarrison ('21) found a marked decrease in relative as well as absolute 

 weight in the liver of starved pigeons (Fig. 35). 



Terroine ('20) from a biochemical study concluded that the fat content of 

 the liver is not materially affected by inanition in the rabbit and pigeons and 

 is sometimes lowered in dogs. While fat may be greatly increased by over- 

 feeding in the liver of young pigeons and geese, the liver in general apparently 

 does not act as a storehouse for fats. Salvioli and Sachetto ('21) studied the 

 so-called fatty degeneration in the hepatic cells of animals during inanition 

 and phosphorus poisoning. Okuneff ('22) found that in starved rabbits there 

 is a deposition of fat (apparently cholesterin esters) in the Kupffer cells and 

 the epithelium of the smaller bile-ducts. Sometimes the hepatic gland cells 

 contained lipoidal granules, staining differently from neutral fat. 



Noel ('23) recently made a historical review and an investigation of the 

 changes in the liver-cells of the white mouse during a fasting period of 24 hours. 

 The cells are slightly reduced in size, and present a variable content of glycogen 

 and fat. The siderophile filaments and granules are also variable. In fasting 



