Abstract
From what has been reported in medical literature, it is assumed to be true that the quantity of glycogen presented in tissues and organs do vary in accordance with the type of tissues and the kind of animals, and there is no unanimity of reaction of these animals in the content of glycogen in tissues and organs toward either insulin or adrenalin even though the shortcoming of the study procedure heretofore in use which disregards individual variation of glycogen content in tissues and organs have been corrected.
The author, therefore, attempted to observe the influence of either insulin or adrenalin on the intermediate sugar metabolism with the use of rat as the experimental animals based on the following points:
1. In order to find out the actions of insulin or adrenolin on the carbohyddrate figures in general of the liver and extrahepatic tissues (skin and muscle), the determination made of the changes on carbohydrate figures, glycogen contents, free sugars and hydrolysable sugars of rat's liver and extrahepatic tissues (skin and muscle), upon the administration of insulin or adrenalin, following Yamamoto's method.
2. To ascertain causes to show the difference in their reaction of respective carbohydrate figures of tissues and organs of animals toward insulin or adrenalin, the quantitative deter. mination on the activity of diastatic ferment of livers, muscles and skin of rat were undertaken. While, several diastatic ferments of organs can be mentioned, as concerned with glycogenolytic activity of enzyme, its evaluation was based on Nakahira's method, which consists of a procedure which a certain definite quantity of glycogen was used as a substrate, with an addition of a certain quantity of macerated tissues, and the quantitative determination of decompose substrate at a regular interval.
The Experimental Results were summarized as follows:
1. In insulin mice, blood sugar and free liver sugar were markedly decreased in the initial stage, then, there occurred decrease of liver glycogen and in the succeeding stage the decrease of free sugar in muscles and skins noted. In this stage, the glycogenolytic activty of ferment had been remarkably suppressed.
2. With adrenalin, liver glycogen has decreased, but blood sugar had increased adversely parallel with the decrease. Glycogen decrease occurred next in muscles and skins, here, no change observed in glycogenolytic activity of ferment in blood, tissues and organs.
3. From these findings, the main reaction seen in insulin rat was the lowering of free sugarin tissues and organs, and in adrenalin rat the lowering of glycogen occurred in the first stage. Then, in insulin rat the suppression of glycogenolytic activity of ferment seen but with adrenalin, there was no change in glycogenolytic activity which speaks for possible linking of intimate relations which may present between glycogen of tissues and organs, and their glycogenolytic ferment. (Auther's abstract)
