Fine structural alterations induced in the rat hepatocyte by adrenalectomy: influence of deoxycorticosterone acetate or fasting.

Electron microscopy was used to investigate the changes induced by bilateral adrenalectomy (ADX) in rat hepatocytes. Animals were killed at 1 week post-ADX, either with or without a prior 24 h fast. Further studies were carried out at 4 to 5 weeks after ADX to investigate the effect of administering deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) for 4 weeks on the ADX-induced alterations. At 1 week, fasting had a profound effect on the response of hepatocytes to ADX in that either fasting or ADX alone caused proliferation of smooth endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and reduced glycogen but did not alter the rough ER, while ADX together with fasting resulted in the total depletion of glycogen, the virtual absence of smooth ER and the disaggregation of the rough ER into single cisternae. In contrast to the changes seen at 1 week after ADX in unfasted animals, at 4 weeks the hepatocytes contained increased glycogen in large, dense areas and had a scanty smooth ER, suggesting that some endogenous source of steroid hormones active in carbohydrate metabolism becomes available in male ADX rats by this time. This interpretation was consistent with the finding that DOCA-treatment of ADX rats prevented the glycogen accumulation seen at 4 weeks and also induced some smooth ER proliferation.