METABOLIC EFFECTS OF PHENFORMIN AT SIMULATED HIGH ALTITUDE

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh, School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

There was a 50% reduction in hepatic glycogen content of male Wistar rats treated with phenformin hydrochloride, 100 mg/kg, or decompressed for four hours at 24,000 feet. There was also an increase in the glycogen content of the heart and diaphragm of the decompressed animals. There was a 5-fold increase in the myocardial glycogen content of rats treated with phenformin for seven days as well as a marked increase in glycogen content in both the liver and diaphragm. Blood lactate increased approximately 3-fold after phenformin treatment and approximately 8-fold after a single dose of phenformin plus four hours of decompression. The data suggest that prolonged treatment with phenformin enhances the efficiency of recycling carbohydrate under anaerobic conditions and increases utilization of carbohydrate at the expense of lipid stores.