Perinatal Changes in the Liver Weight with Observations of Effects of Fetal Adrenalectomy and Fetal Decapitation with or without Maternal Adrenalectomy in the Rat

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Livers of fetal and newborn rats were used for the detection of any changes in the weight, nuclear counts per unit area and diameter of cell nuclei during perinatal days. Changes in mitochondria, glycogen granules and osmiophilic materials were observed. Furthermore, fetuses on day 20 of pregnancy were subjected to adrenalectomy or to decapitation in utero with or without maternal adrenalectomy for the detection of any changes in the liver weight at the end of pregnancy. The liver weight decreased markedly just after birth. The cell size enlarged before birth and reduced after birth, based on the nuclear counts per unit area. The nuclear diameter did not change significantly during perinatal days. Histologic observation revealed that glycogen granules steadily increased in amount before birth and decreased markedly after birth, that osmiophilic materials increased after birth and that mitochondria were large granules during fetal days and changed to small granules just after birth. This would suggest some reduction in functioning of liver cells just after birth, a reduction being not a substantial one such as degeneration considering no significant change in the nuclear diameter. Both fetal decapitation and fetal adrenalectomy caused a slight decrease in the weight of the fetal liver, but concomitant decapitation and maternal adrenalectomy caused its marked decrease. This suggests that maternal and fetal adrenals cooperatively support the growth of fetal liver. In newborn rats, an injection of cortisone acetate maintained their liver weight approximating to the level of that of fetuses at the end of pregnancy. The observations would support the view that the neonatal decrease in the liver weight is due in part to the decline of circulating amount of corticoids following sudden separation from maternal environment and to the neonatal decline of functioning of the newborn adrenal itself. The weight of the liver in rats and rabbits decreases just after birth despite the steady increase of the body weight during perinatal days. The exact mechanism of this decrease remains unknown. Certain investigators supposed that the decrease might be due in part to the loss of glycogen and water which would be used as an energy source for the maintenance of body temperature. The facts of the loss of glycogen in the fetal liver following concomitant fetal decapitation and maternal adrenalectomy and of an increase of fat following fetal adrenalectomy pointed out some roles of fetal and maternal adrenals in functioning of the fetal liver. Thus the decrease of glycogen and the increase of fat in the newborn liver are possibly due in part to the decline in functioning of the newborn adrenal and to the separation from the maternal environment. This work was designed to know changes in the weight of the liver, number of liver cell nuclei per unit area and diameter of the nuclei and also to know any relationship between the maternal-fetal adrenals and the fetal liver weight. The work was further extended to test the working hypothesis that the neonatal decrease of the liver weight is due in part to some decline of hormonal (corticoids) support which should occur just after birth.
大阪府立大学の論文
1968-03-31

Perinatal Changes in the Liver Weight with Observations of Effects of Fetal Adrenalectomy and Fetal Decapitation with or without Maternal Adrenalectomy in the Rat

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