Energetic insufficiency of liver tissue and additional energy in digital value. (The hypothesis)
Authors: Galperin E. I. 
Published: September 2022

Despite the deep understanding of the importance of energy supply in the development of the vast majority of processes and phenomena in organism, there are practically no conceptual researches of energy requirements in severe diseases, traumatic injuries, stressful effects and related treatment in the medical literature.

The proposed hypothesis is based on the analysis of literature data (PubMed keywords: energy deficit, stressor, metabolic stress, ATP, gluconeogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondria, insulin secretion), reconsideration of the results of our experiments dedicated to the energetic statement of liver tissue in obstructive jaundice (OJ), ischemia and massive resection, summarization of 60 years of experience in clinical, surgical and scientific activities, which made it possible to make a number of assumptions that need further clinical and experimental verification.

Various pathogens (stressors) cause the additional energy production in the body, which is the energy basis of metabolic responses that ensure the adaptation of the body's vital functions and the elimination of the pathogen by activation of innate immunity, systemic inflammatory reaction, activation of the sympathetic nervous system, etc.

Additional energy is the integral strength of the response to the pathogen, that takes into consideration with the strength of the stressor and the individual strength of the body's response, which can be different for the same strength of the stressor. In fact, when stress develops, it determines its strength in digital form, i.e. in real view.

The concept of this hypothesis comes from the fact that stress, which main task is to provide the energy of organism, appears when there is a certain level of energy deficiency in the body.

Such level rarely appears immediately after the action of the stressor. At the beginning, pre-stress adaptive reactions usually occur, which use the energy reserve in cells in the form of ATP and glycogen, and are also the result of energy redistribution: a decrease in it in insulin-dependent tissues and an increase in insulin-independent ones, which include vital organs.

This made it possible to divide metabolic responses into two groups: pre-stress and stress, and to distinguish two periods: “pre-stress” and “metabolic stress”. Pre-stress reactions, in our opinion, are also aimed at preventing the development of metabolic stress, which generates energy through proteolysis and lipolysis of body tissues. Metabolic stress develops when pre-stress reactions cannot satisfy the needs of the body and a certain, expressed in numerical value, energy deficit occurs. In a certain extent the metabolic situation in the body reflects by the liver, which is a metabolic organ that performs many reactions both during normal and stressful metabolism, generates ATP energy, and takes into account the metabolic state of other organs. The level of energy deficiency of the liver tissue can be an indicator that causes the formation of metabolic stress and evaluates in a numerical value not only the energy position of the body, but also the severity of its general condition, promising opportunities, prognosis and priority treatment, which should be aimed at a comprehensive replenishment of the energy deficit.

This is especially important to keep in mind at this time with severe forms of COVID-19 and low blood oxygen saturation. Under any stressful influences, the doctor must solve two problems: to deal with a specific stressor and to provide energy for this struggle and the vital activity of the patient. Functional insufficiency of the liver in its diffuse diseases can lead to impaired gluconeogenesis or oxidative phosphorylation of glucose and the formation of “unsuccessful” or “incomplete” stresses.