6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999

A089
CYTOFLUOROMETRIC ANALYSIS OF GLYCOGEN IN HEPATOCYTES IN PATIENTS WITH LIVER CIRRHOSIS
Kudryavtseva MV, Bezborodkina NN, Kudryavtsev BN

Institut of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St.Petersburg, Russia

By cytofluorometric method, a study was made of the total glycogen and its two fractions in liver parenchymal cells both in the donors and in patients with cirrhosis of different etiology. The examination was performed on preparations-smears of isolated hepatocytes, obtained of the live punctional liver biopsies. The quantitative analysis has been shown an increase in the total glycogen content in hepatocytes of patients with cirrhosis by 3 times compared to the norm, and this increase is independent on the etiology of liver cirrhosis. To study the mechanism of the discovered glycogenosis, the activity of key enzymes of glycogenolyses was determined. It was shown that glucose-6-phosphatase and glycogen phosphorylase activity in the liver with cirrhosis was lower than in the norm. The most considerable changes were shown in hepatocytes of patients with liver cirrhosis in fractional glycogen composition and, even more significant, in the content of a hard soluble fraction. The hard soluble fraction portion was higher in hepatocytes of the patients with liver cirrhosis of alcohol etiology. The quantitative analysis of glycogen fraction contents in liver cells may be the best marker in the differential diagnosis of symptomless elapsing liver cirrhosis.