334 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



indicating that the liver loses relatively less than the entire body in the later 

 stages of inanition. The water content and bile secretion were also noted. 



Altmann ('90) studied the structural changes in the liver during inanition, 

 especially in the frog. Grossly the liver in starvation appears small and dark 

 colored, in contrast with its large size and yellowish color after ample feeding. 

 Microscopically the liver-cells when well nourished appear large, containing 

 fuchsinophile threads and granules, also osmic staining globules. In starvation, 

 the cells are markedly reduced in size and filled uniformly with fuchsinophile 

 granules. 



Coen ('90) in the starved rabbit and kitten found the liver cell-cords sepa- 

 rated by distended blood capillaries, with occasional hemorrhagic foci or 

 pigment masses of hematogenous origin. Some slight leukocytic infiltration 

 indicated early inflammatory stages. The liver-cells appeared reduced in size, 

 with scanty, finely granular cytoplasm. The nuclei sometimes were small 

 and poorly staining. 



Bohm and Davidoff ('94) state that the mammalian liver-cell during fasting 

 presents an inner denser granular cytoplasmic zone and an outer less granular 

 zone containing glycogen and minute droplets of bile secretion. 



Statkewitsch ('94) studied the changes in the liver-cells of fasting cats, dogs, 

 rabbits, guinea pig, pigeons, etc., with or without water. In the early stages of 

 inanition there is cloudy swelling, with loss of glycogen. After loss of 10-15 

 per cent in body weight, granular degeneration occurs, and fat droplets may 

 appear in the cells around the central part of the lobule. The fatty degeneration 

 becomes much greater and spreads toward the periphery of the lobule in more 

 advanced stages of inanition (loss of 20-25 per cent in body weight), finally 

 involving nearly all the cells. The fatty degeneration is well marked in the 

 guinea pig, dog and cat, less marked in the rabbit and least in the pigeon. The 

 rounded nuclei become ellipsoidal or irregular, with final chromatolysis or karyor- 

 rhexis. The epithelium of the bile-passages may show similar, but less marked, 

 degenerative changes. Desquamation of cells may occur, sometimes forming a 

 ring in the lumen of the bile-duct. 



Von Bechterew ('95) gave data showing the loss in weight of the liver in 

 fasting newborn kittens and puppies. 



Lazareff ('95), like Lukianow ('92), found that the liver in guinea pigs loses 

 most heavily in the early stage of inanition. With body loss of 10 per cent, the 

 loss in liver weight averaged nearly 18 per cent. At later stages, the loss 

 in the liver appeared more nearly proportional to that in the body as a whole 

 (Table 5). 



Kusmin ('96) mentioned hyperemia and extravasations in the liver of hyper- 

 thermic rabbits and guinea pigs. Zanier ('96) found no diminution in the 

 granular "bioblasts" of Altmann in the liver and kidney of the fasting frog and 

 rat. Habas (Chabas) ('97) claimed that during fasting the normal fat disap- 

 pears quickly from the hepatic gland cells, but is retained in the endothelial 

 and stellate Kupffer cells in birds (fowls and geese) until the loss in body weight 

 has reached 40 or 50 per cent. In extreme inanition, the liver-cells undergo 

 atrophic and granular degeneration, with vacuolation. Upon refeeding after 



