Summary
The activity of several regulatory enzymes representing the pathways of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, NADPH generation and lipogenesis was measured in rat placenta, maternal and foetal livers on the 20th day of gestation. Streptozotocin diabetes, induced on the 12th day of gestation, or 48 h of fasting did not induce adaptive changes in the activity of placental enzymes while producing a typical insulin deficiency pattern in maternal liver. Foetal liver enzyme activities were unaffected by fasting and in diabetes showed changes suggestive of foetal hyperinsulinaemia. A small increase was observed in the activity of placental pyruvate kinase and a small decrease in that of PEP carboxylase in diabetic and in glucocorticoid-treated rats; these changes were reciprocal to those in the maternal liver and were attributed to hyperglycaemia, as was the increase in placental glycogen. Lack of response to insulin deficiency and to other endocrine alterations indicates that placenta is not sensitive to stimuli which induce adaptive alterations in hepatic enzymes. The only consistent change found in placental enzyme activities was a decrease associated with gestational age.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J. W., Stowring, L.: Glycolytic and gluconeogenic enzyme activities in renal cortex of diabetic rats. Am. J. Physiol.224, 930–936 (1973)
Anderson, J. W., Zakim, D.: The influence of alloxan diabetes and fasting on glycolytic and gluconeogenic enzyme activities of rat intestinal mucosa and liver. Biochim. Biophys. Acta201, 236–241 (1970)
Beyth, Y., Neuman, S., Gutman, A., Shafrir, E.: Effect of prolonged gestation on placental and maternal liver enzyme activities in the rat. Diabete Metab.3, 91–96 (1977)
Chang, A. Y., Schneider, D. I.: Hepatic enzyme activities in streptozotocin diabetic rats before and after insulin treatment. Diabetes20, 71–77 (1971)
Diamant, Y. Z., Shafrir, E.: Enzymes of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the placenta and liver of pregnant rats. Biochim. Biophys. Acta279, 424–430 (1972)
Diamant, Y. Z., Neuman, S., Shafrir, E.: Effect of chorionic gonadotropin, triamcinolone, progesterone and estrogen on enzymes of placenta and liver in rats. Biochim. Biophys. Acta385, 257–267 (1975)
Dodek, P., Kirby, L., Frohlich, Y., Hahn, P., Ho-Yuen, B.: High glucose concentration and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity in human and rat foetal liver cultures. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med.150, 7–10 (1975)
Dolkart, R. E., Torok, E. E., Wright, P. H.: Hepatic enzyme activities in rats made diabetic with alloxan and with guinea pig anti-insulin serum. Diabetes13, 78–82 (1964)
Foglia, V. G., Chieri, R. A., de Peralta Ramos, M. C.: Mechanism of disturbances during pregnancy in the diabetic female rat. Horm. Metab. Res.2, 76–80 (1970)
Gabbe, S. G., Deniers, L. M., Greep, R. O., Villee, C. A.: Placental glycogen metabolism in diabetes mellitus. Diabetes21, 1185–91 (1972)
Golob, E. K., Rishi, S., Becker, K. L., Moore, C.: Steptozotocin diabetes in pregnant and nonpregnant rats. Metabolism19, 1014–1019 (1970)
Golob, E. K., Rishi, S., Becker, K. L., Moore, C., Shah, N.: Effect of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on pancreatic insulin content of the foetus. Diabetes19, 610–613 (1970)
Hagerman, D. D.: Metabolism of tissues from pregnant diabetic rats in vitro. Endocrinology70, 88–89 (1962)
Heikensjold, F., Gemzell, C. A.: Glycogen content in the placenta of diabetic mothers. Acta Paediatr. Scand.46, 74–80 (1957)
Johnson, J. A., Fusaro, R. M.: An enzymic method for the quantitative determination of micro quantities of glycogen. Anal. Biochem.7, 189–191 (1964)
Kervran, A., Girard, J. R.: Glucose induced increase of plasma insulin in the rat foetus inutero. J. Endocrinol.62, 545–551 (1974)
Lazarow, A., Heggestad, C. B.: Offspring of animals with experimental diabetes. In: Early Diabetes, Suppl. to Adv. in Metab. Disorders. Camerini-Davalos, R. A., Cole, H. S. (Ed.), pp. 229–239. London, New York: Academic Press 1970
Llorente, P., Marco, R., Sols, A.: Regulation of liver pyruvate kinase and the phosphoenolpyruvate crossroads. Eur. J. Biochem.13, 45–54 (1970)
Migliorini, R. H.: Early changes in the levels of glycolytic enzymes after total panercetactomy in the rat. Biochim. Biophys. Acta244, 125–128 (1971)
Portha, B., Levacher, C., Picon, L., Rosselin, G.: Diabetogenic effect of streptozotocin in the rat during the perinatal period. Diabetes23, 889–895 (1974)
Prager, R., Abramovici, A., Liban, E., Laron, Z.: Histopathological changes in the placenta of streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Diabetologia10, 89–91 (1974)
Reynolds, W. A., Chez, R. A., Bhuyan, B. K., Neil, G. L.: Placental transfer of streptozotocin in the monkey. Diabetes23, 777–782 (1974)
Shafrir, E., Diamant, Y. Z.: Regulation of placental enzymes of the carbohydrate and lipid metabolic pathways. In: Ciba Foundation Symposium on Pregnancy Metabolism, Diabetes and the Foetus. Beard, R. W., Hoet, J. J. (Ed.). London 1978 (in press)
Shrago, E., Young, J. W., Lardy, H. A.: Carbohydrate supply as a regulator of rat liver phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity. Science158, 1572–1573 (1967)
Sybulski, S., Maughan, C. B.: Use of streptozotocin as diabetic agent in pregnant rats. Endocrinology89, 1537–1540 (1972)
Tanaka, T., Harano, Y., Sue, F., Morimura, H.: Crystallization, characterization and metabolic regulation of two types of pyruvate kinase isolated from rat tissues. J. Biochem. (Tokyo)62, 71–90 (1967)
Van Berkel, Y. Y. C., Koster, J. F.: M-type pyruvate kinase of leukocytes: an allosteric enzyme. Biochim. Biophys. Acta273, 134–139 (1973)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Diamant, Y.Z., Shafrir, E. Placental enzymes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and lipogenesis in the diabetic rat and in starvation. Diabetologia 15, 481–485 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02342874
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02342874