Liver electrical activity upon epinephrine action

Abstract

The electrical potential of the liver is an integrative indicator the activity of the cells in this organ. Here we tried to elucidate a link between liver functional state and its electrical activity. For that, electrical potential of the liver, the content of bile acid and blood glucose concentration were measured in control conditions and after intravenous epinephrine administration. Epinephrine at dose 0.2 µg/kg body weight caused short-term increase in blood glucose concentration and a decrease in hydroxylation ratio of bile acids. The administration also resulted in an increase in power spectral density (PSD) of liver electric potential in a frequency range of 1.6-2.5 Hz. In addition, a trend to increasing in PSD at 0.6-1.5 and 2.6-10 Hz ranges and decreasing in conjugation ratio of bile acids were shown. Correlation between liver electrical activity and blood glucose concentration observed in control conditions vanished upon epinephrine administration. In contrast, epinephrine administration potentiated correlation between liver electrical activity and content of bile acids. Thus, we conclude that the liver electrical activity could reflect its secretory processes.