A study of the relationship of the glycogen body, blood glucose levels and stress in the domestic fowl

Abstract

A series of experiments designed to study the relationship between the avian glycogen body and glycemic stress was reported. A technique for removing the glycogen body was also reported. This study showed that the chicken can survive intrameningeal surgery and the subsequent removal of the glycogen body. It was also evident that subsequent removal of the glycogen body did not occur. Regeneration of the bone tissue, however, was observed in the vertebral area of surgery. The spinal cord halves were found to migrate toward each other after surgery. The responses of surgery and non-surgery birds to insulin were basically the same regardless of whether the injection was peripheral, intrameningeal or a combination of each. The hyperglycemic response of all birds to glucagon was short lived. Surgery and nonsurgery birds which received peripheral insulin and intrameningeal glucagon exhibited the normal reduction in blood glucose by Æ° hour post-injection. By 8 hours post injection the blood glucose level was significantly higher than that of the insulin treated group. Birds which received peripheral glucose and intrameningeal insulin were significantly different from all other birds at Æ° hour post-injection. By 4 hours post injection these birds were not significantly different from birds which had received peripheral insulin. It appears that the peripheral portion of a combined injection is more rapid in its action on blood glucose. Hydrocortisone, in contrast to glucagon, has a prolonged hyperglycemic effect on blood glucose levels of surgery and non-surgery birds. There was only a 5 percent change in blood glucose from the Æ° hour sample to the 24 hour sample &.