The effect upon the liver of evisceration with or without hormone replacement

Abstract

All, or nearly all, of the nonhepatic splanchnic viscera were removed in dogs. In most untreated dogs, the liver cells underwent changes similar to those caused by portacaval shunt, including structural deterioration of organelles and fatty metamorphosis. The rate of division of the hepatocytes, as measured by the mitotic index and by autoradiography, was depressed as were deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis and adenylate cyclase activity. These changes were restored to, or toward, normal with the intraportal administration of commercial or purified insulin but not with glucagon or epidermal growth factor. The results of both the pathologic and biochemical studies were consistent, except for an incongruity in some of the dogs in which the colon was retained.

Fig. 1

a, Evisceration, retaining a few centimeters of the terminal part of the ileum and all of the colon for anastomosis to the esophagus, part of group 2. In all evisceration procedures, the base of the mesentery was preserved, so that the portal vein still had a small volume of hepatopetal flow. b, Same as Fig. l a, except that the ileum was removed and an esophagocolostomy was performed, part of groups 2 and 4. c, Same as Fig. la, except that the colon and rectum were excised with closure of the esophagus and anus, groups 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Fig. 2

Hormone infusion into main portal vein, a, groups 6, 7 and 8 and into left portal vein, b, groups 2 and 3.