Adenosine Triphosphate in Liver after Partial Hepatectomy and Acute Stress

Partial hepatectomy and acute stress (Celite) cause no changes in the levels in vivo of liver ATP or total adenine nucleotide in the nucleus or the whole cell of the rat. During a brief period of anoxia (about ½ min), however, both regenerating and stressed livers destroy more of their ATP than the normal organ, and the change is reflected in the nuclei as well as in the whole cells. That the greater ATP breakdown already occurs before oxygen is withheld is strongly suggested by the enhanced rate of incorporation of 32P-labeled orthophosphate into the liver ATP of the treated rats. The kinetics of the changes in ATP metabolism is different in partially hepatectomized and stressed rats, and only the changes in the stressed animals are dependent upon the adrenal glands. The possibility is considered that the stimuli for the altered metabolism of ATP are causally related to the changes in the synthesis of macromolecules that characteristically follow partial hepatectomy and acute stress.