The deoxyglucose method adapted for studies of glucose metabolism in the early chick embryo.

14C-2-deoxyglucose (DG), currently employed in in vivo studies of brain glucose metabolism, has been used for determination of glucose consumption in the in vitro developing chick embryo. DG, presented in traces, accumulates in the embryo in proportion with incubation time. Analysis of tissue homogenates shows that the accumulated radioactivity is due to both phosphorylated (DGP) and nonphosphorylated DG. As it is only the radioactivity originating from the DGP that is proportional to glucose utilization, the nonphosphorylated DG must be washed out. The washout shows two distinct kinetics: a fast one corresponding to DG that has entered the cells but has not yet been phosphorylated and a slow one that is probably due to a dephosphorylated DGP coming from a different cellular compartment. On the basis of these results the optimal experimental conditions have been defined, allowing quantitative studies of glucose metabolism during the first day of development of the chicken embryo. From 18 to 24 hr of incubation (end of gastrulation), total glucose consumption increases from 50 nmol X h-1 at stage 3-4 to 90 nmol X h-1 at stage 6-7. This increase mainly reflects the growth of the blastodisc. Comparison with the values of O2 uptake measured at the same period of development suggests that only a fraction of the glucose consumed is oxidized, the major part being converted aerobically to lactate.