Livers were harvested immediately after euthanasia
and a portion (at least 0.5 g) was immediately frozen in
liquid nitrogen for gene expression analysis. The remainder
of the liver was placed in ice-cold H-medium [mannitol,
220 mM; sucrose, 70 mM; HEPES, 5 mM; ethylene
glycol tetraacetic acid, 1 mM; β-mercaptoethanol,
5 mM; and BSA, 0.05% (wt/vol), pH = 7.4] for use in
enzyme assays.