Studies on severe hepatic damage induced by galactosamine

Severe hepatic damage with submassive necrosis induced in rats by an intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of galactosamine hydrochloride was studied. In the severely damaged liver, the remarkable decreases of glycogen and UDPG in the damaged liver were seen. This means extreme decrease in the reserve power of glycolysis. Moreover, the activities of glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-1,6-diphosphatase decreased. Therefore, the glucose release from liver into the blood stream decreases and the inhibition of gluconeogenesis occurs. In the damaged liver, the decrease of UTP which is essential for the synthesis of sugar moiety of polysaccharide, was seen. Further, the activities of L-glutamine: D-fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase and UDP N-acetylglucosamine 2'-epimerase which are two key enzymes of polysaccharide synthesizing enzyme were seen to decrease remarkably. In the damaged liver, the glycoprotein fraction decreased more strikingly than the acid mucopolysaccharide fraction. Moreover, the decrease of fructose-1,6-diphosphatase activity seems also to effect on the inhibition of polysaccharide synthesis. In these respects, in the severe hepatic damage, the synthesis of glycoprotein which is essential for liver cell seems to be inhibited.