Changes in Patterns of Enzymes of Carbohydrate Metabolism in the Developing Rat Liver

Abstract

The mature liver has an unusually versatile metabolic capacity. Presumably the embryonic liver lacks many of the mature activities which develop during growth of the animal. Knowledge of the changes in specific enzyme capacities should help in understanding biochemical differentiation. Although enzymatic changes have been studied in organs of various species during development (l-5), the amount of available information on embryonic and young rat tissues is still rather limited (6-13). The rat at birth is unfinished relative to many other animals, the guinea pig, for instance. Consequently it shows some embryonic characteristics during the early postnatal days and is thus a convenient source of organs at different stages of maturation. A previous study (14) in this laboratory demonstrated marked increases in certain flavoproteins in rat liver from birth to weaning.