[Comparative study of the formation of glycogen and trehalose during starvation in the Lepidoptera Bombyx mori L].

Glycogen reserves are entirely consumed during total starvation of Bombyx mori L. larvae. While the storage of glycogen is lowering and the dietary supply of carbohydrates stopped, the amount of trehalose also decreases but less rapidly than this of glycogen. Relative homeostasis is maintained but only for the ten first hours of inanition. Quantitative evaluation of blood trehalose, which is preformed more rapidly than glycogen analysis, might be used as an efficient test to characterized some physiopathological states.