Radiorespirometric study of carbohydrate metabolism in childhood liver disease.

The need for a suitable parameter to evaluate patients with chronic liver disease has been felt for some time, especially in order to judge the response to surgical shunts and the influence of certain drugs and diets on the liver. Since the liver is a major organ for carbohydrate metabolism, it was decided to analyze the in vivo oxidation of such substrates as glucose and galactose labeled with 14C. Moderately advanced "Indian childhood cirrhosis" and idiopathic fatty hepatic infiltration were selected to represent diffuse chronic liver disease. Oral administration of 14C-U-glucose or 14C-1-galactose was followed by analyses of 14CO2 in breath by liquid scintillation counting. Conversion of 14C-glucose to 14CO2 was accelerated by both diseases. On the other hand, oxidation of 14C-galactose was slowed in fatty infiltration and was markedly subnormal in Indian childhood cirrhosis.