GlycogenIn 1855, the discovery of glycogen stored in the liver was communicated to the Académie des Sciences by Claude Bernard, a French physiologist. He was not able to extract glycogen in a relatively pure state until Feb 1857. (At about the same time, Victor Hensen, a German physiologist, independently used a different process to successfully isolate glycogen.) As the storage form of glucose, glycogen is barely soluble in water, and is a kind of "animal starch." It can be readily converted into glucose as needed for use in the body to release energy. In this function, it acts as stored fuel for animals just as starch is stored in plants. In the word glycogen, glyco- = sugar; and -gen = forming.«* |
