The effect of previous malnutrition on the metabolic response to surgical hysterectomy was investigated in adult female rats. Malnutrition was achieved by feeding a 20 g protein/kg diet and restricting food intake to 50 % of normal. This dietary regimen was maintained for 3 weeks before surgery and for 4 d after surgery. Unoperated control rats were pair-fed with the hysterectomized rats after surgery. Energy balance was measured by the comparative carcass technique and, in a second experiment, urinary N excretion was measured. Surgery caused energy expenditure to increase by 37 % in ad libitum-fed rats but in malnourished rats it increased by only 22 %. Urinary N excretion rose immediately after surgery. In the ad libitum-fed rats it was on average 85 % greater in hysterectomized rats than controls for the first 3 d after surgery, whereas in the restricted rats it was 74 % greater on the first day and not significantly elevated thereafter. Thus, malnutrition attenuated the metabolic response to surgery but did not abolish it completely.

No abstract