Fasting reduces the response of liver glycogen phosphorylase to physiological levels of epinephrine in rats

Abstract

The effect of 24 h fasting on the response of rat liver glycogen phosphorylase activity to an i.v. bolus of 2.75, 5.50 or 22.00 nmol kg −1 of epinephrine was studied. Even the lowest dose increased activity of the a form of the enzyme in the liver of anesthetized, fed rats to approximately 70–80 % of total enzyme activity two minutes after administration. Further increased epinephrine doses failed to potentiate the enzyme response significantly, but shortened the time necessary for attaining the response, and delayed the return of enzyme activity to control values. No activation of phosphorylase was demonstrable after 2.75 nmol kg −1 of the hormone injected to fasted rats, but after increasing the hormone dose to 5.50 nmol kg −1 the enzyme response was the same as in the corresponding fed group at 2 min, and after administering the highest dose both at 1 and 2 min. According to these results, an increased threshold to epinephrine should be added to the already described effects of fasting, i.e. decreased phosphorylase a and total enzyme activity and shortened response to catecholamines. The efficacy of the i.v. bolus of 5.50 nmol kg −1 of epinephrine in increasing plasma epinephrine level to the theoretical value of 27.5 pmol ml −1 was proven by measuring plasma epinephrine which increased during the first minute after hormone administration to 24.5 + 5.9 pmol ml −1, to decrease during an additional minute with a half life of cca 22.2 seconds.