High Energy Phosphate Compounds in Adipose Tissue: The Effect of Hemorrhage

Abstract The levels of ATP and CP in gastrocnemius muscle and inguinal subcutaneous adipose tissue of cats were measured before and after withdrawal of 25–45 per cent of the calculated blood volume and after retransfusion of the shed blood. Resting values were in skeletal muscle: ATP‐6.77±0.49 μmol/g tissue, CP‐17.35 ±1.31 μmol/g tissue (mean ± S.E.), and in adipose tissue: ATP 86.7 ±18.1 and CP 132.8± 8.5 nmol/g. Within 10 min after withdrawal of blood, muscle high energy phosphate levels were unchanged whereas adipose tissue CP and ATP levels had dropped to 20 and 48 per cent of control, respectively. Later during the hypotensive period, skeletal muscle levels also fell. Following retransfusion of the shed blood, adipose tissue levels remained low, whereas skeletal muscle levels returned towards control. The results demonstrate that the high energy phosphate levels are more severely decreased in adipose tissue than in skeletal muscle following bleeding in cats, and that the fall is not reversible in adipose tissue in contrast to muscle. The results are compatible with the idea that adipose tissue is one of the organs in which irreversible changes following hemorrhage are manifested.