Abstract
Muscle glycogen content is decreased following trauma. The present study was undertaken in order to investigate the pattern of muscle glycogen depletion in type I and type II muscle fibres following surgical trauma. Twenty-four otherwise healthy patients undergoing elective intra-abdominal surgery were studied. Muscle biopsies were taken prior to surgery and on the 2nd and 4th post-operative day and analysed for glycogen content as well as histochemical classification of fibre type. In nine patients the glycogen content in separate muscle fibres was estimated histochemically by using the periodic acid Schiff (PAS) reaction. Muscle glycogen content showed only minor changes on the 2nd post-operative day but decreased about 30% from pre-operative values on the 4th post-operative day. A positive correlation between the decrease in muscle glycogen content on the 4th post-operative day and the percentage type I fibres was found. Furthermore, the PAS-staining indicated a significantly more pronounced glycogen depletion in type I than in type II muscle fibres on the 4th post-operative day. This study confirms that muscle glycogen content is decreased post-operatively and demonstrates that glycogen depletion after abdominal surgery is delayed until the 2nd–4th post-operative day. The results also show that this post-traumatic glycogen depletion occurs to a greater extent in type I than in type II fibres. We think it likely that the decrease in muscle glycogen content is due to a persistent insulin resistance and not to the transient rise in plasma adrenaline pre- and post-operatively.
Published Version
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