Effect of restricted access to food on metabolic changes in lethally X-irradiated rats. I

Differences in the reaction of glucose in blood and in that of glycogen in liver in animals with free access to food and in those with restricted food intake to lethal irradiation by X-rays were studied. SPF bred male rats of the Wistar strain were fed by common laboratory diet and by tap water ad libitum (AL group) or food was accessible to them (in unlimited amounts) only in the period between 09.00 a. m. and 11.00 a. m. (meal-fed group, MF), all under standard laboratory conditions. After more than three weeks of adaptation to the nutrition patterns and 22 h after the last food intake, animals of both groups were irradiated with a single whole-body 14.35 Gy dose of X-rays and/or sham irradiated, respectively. Glucose concentration in blood was increased in both groups during the experiment; terminal hyperglycaemia was more expressed in the MF group. Due to the high initial glycogen concentration in the liver of MF irradiated animals the accumulation of glycogen was substantially lower and started later than in irradiated AL animals. (author)