The Influence of Short Ether Anesthesia on Some Liver Enzyme Activities in the Rat

Rats were anesthetized by ether inhalation for 4–5 min and sacrificed 1–48 h after anesthesia. From their liver homogenates, the activities of nine enzymes were determined. Activities of urate oxidase and arylsulfatase-A did not change significantly but arylsulfatase-B was slightly decreased. Malate dehydrogenase, arylsulfatase-B, and thiamine pyrophosphatase reached their highest and "malic enzymes" their lowest activities at the same time, 5 h after anesthesia. Alkaline phosphatase first decreased, later increased. Acid phosphatase and glucose-6-phosphatase activities decreased following ether anesthesia. Thesechanges in the enzyme activities generally agree and partly explain previously reported effects of ether anesthesia observed in the serum.