Читать книгу Old Age Deferred. The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures онлайн

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The liver also produces certain bodies, as urea, which play a very important part in metabolism, and it also serves as a large depot for glycogen, the stored sugar of the body. The liver forms a large amount of glycogen, and stores it up for the wants of the body. By a ferment, also produced by the liver cells, the glycogen is transformed into sugar, and in this form is given off to the body. If the liver were extirpated the blood would contain no more sugar, as was found by Minkowski through experiments on animals.

Besides sugar, the liver also produces, as just mentioned, another very important substance, and this is urea. This body is produced in the liver from ammonia, which, as the final product of decomposition of albuminous substances, is brought to the liver by the blood. From carbamic acid, also, the liver forms urea. Ammonia and carbamic acid are poisonous products which arise from the decomposition of albuminous material, and, by transforming them into urea, the liver saves our body from continuous intoxication. Thus we can see that in diseases of the liver the quantity of urea falls and the elimination of ammonia increases. A normal man eliminates about thirty to forty grammes of urea in a day. Much smaller quantities per diem would thus indicate diminished activity of the liver.