Improved Fixation for Histological Demonstration of Glycogen and Comparison with Chemical Determination in Liver.

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Abstract
Glycogen in rat liver was well preserved throughout histo-logic blocks and was not displaced in the cells when pieces of liver were fixed in ice-cold picro-alcohol-formalin. Liver sections were stained by the Bauer-Feulgen method, and the optical density of each section was measured on a Photovolt electronic photometer (model 512). Chemical detns. were made of the glycogen contained in other pieces of the same livers by the Good, Kramer and Somogyi method. 20 rats were starved from 6-48 hrs. after a feeding period. Liver glycogen levels ranged from 0.02-5.3%. Comparisons of the optical densities of the stained sections and the chemical detns. showed that a linear correlation exists between values obtained by the 2 methods of detn. A factor was calculated for converting the optical densities into % glycogen; when the conversions were made, their standard deviation from the amt. of glycogen chemically found was [plus or minus]0.52%, the deviations ranging from 0.0-1.5.