ANESTHESIA AND LIVER DAMAGE’ II. THE EFFECT OF ANESTHESIA ON THE BLOOD SUGAR, THE LIVER GLYCOGEN, AND LIVER FAT

Although Langenbeck (1) in 1850 first demonstrated the fatty changes in the liver which may follow the administration of chloroform to man or beast, it was Rosenbaum (2) who first called attention to the decrease in liver glycogen which ac-companied anesthetization with this agent. Shortly after this Otto (3) reported that chloroform anesthesia was accompanied by an increase in the blood sugar. Gamier and Lambert (4) found that chloroform anesthesia, in the dog, was associated with an increase in the blood sugar and a decrease in the liver gly-cogen, and similar findings were reported with diethyl ether anes-thesia by Seeig (5), Hirsch and Reinbach (6) and Hirsch (7). Ross and McGuigan (8) found that in the dog hyperglycemia was provoked very shortly after beginning the administration of the anesthetic, that it continued during the anesthetization, and as a rule was present when the blood was examined one-half hour after cessation of the anesthetic. Similar findings have been reported by Jeans and Tallerman (9), Schmidt (10) and Fuss (11). Since 1931 Evans and his associates (12, 13, 14) have pub-lished a number of articles on the effect on the liver glycogen concentration of anesthetization with diethyl ether, amytal, and nitrous oxide and oxygen. Evans, Tsai and Young (14) found ‘Aided by a grant from Merck and Company for Surgical Research. il