COMPARISON OF RENAL AND HEPATIC EFFECTS OF FASTING, CORTISONE ADMINISTRATION AND GLUCOSE INFUSION IN NORMAL AND ADRENALECTOMIZED RATS1

The authors have measured gh-cogen deposition and changes in the activity ofthe enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase in rat liver and kidneys in several metabolic states. The administration of cortisone did not result in the accumulation of kidney glycogen, in sharp contrast to the marked and well known resulting accumulation of liver glycogen. Hyperglycemia and glucosuria, however, whether clue to alloxan diabetes or to glucose infusions in the presence of a functionally intact pancreas, produced a small but significant increase in kidney glycogen. Glucose-6-phosphatase activity was found to be increased in similar fashion in both liver and kidneys of intact animals in metabolic states associated with accelerated endogenous glucose production, such as in fasting or in the diabetic state. In adrenalectomized animals this response to fasting no longer occurred. Substitutiontherapy with cortisone restored the normal glucose-6-phosphatase response to fasting in both organs.