Effect of aging on changes in substrate and effector levels of rat-liver glycolytic and lipogenic enzymes during induction.

When 1-, 2- and 9-month-old rats adapted to a stock diet were fed a fat-free/high-sucrose diet, the changes in the substrate and effector levels of glycolytic and lipogenic enzymes in liver, and the effects of aging on the changes were investigated. By the sucrose diet feeding, the activities of phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase and fructokinase were increased, whereas hexokinase activity was markedly decreased. The fructose 1-phosphate levels were significantly increased in the liver, while conversely, the glucose 6-phosphate and fructose 6-phosphate levels were decreased. As a result of sucrose diet feeding, the changed enzyme activities would appear to be consistent with the metabolic pathway for fructose being predominant over that for glucose. Consequently, the concentrations of acetyl-CoA, citrate and malate were increased and would in turn appear to favour an increase in lipogenesis. The changes in the substrate and effector levels of lipogenic enzymes were reduced with aging, as were those in the enzyme activities. However, the changes in enzyme activities and metabolite levels of glycolysis were not much affected with aging.