Regulation of alternative pathways of glucose metabolism in rat heart in alloxan diabetes: changes in the pentose phosphate pathway.

The flux of glucose through the pentose phosphate pathway, important in relation to the provision of ribose 5-phosphate for nucleotide and RNA synthesis, was decreased by 70% in the diabetic rat heart in parallel with a similar decreased flux through the glycolytic route. A common factor linking the decreased flux through these alternative routes is the known fall in cardiac hexokinase; in these experiments there is a 50% decrease in Type II hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1.) in both soluble and particulate fractions. The level of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, a regulator of phosphofructokinase activity, is decreased by 20% in the alloxan diabetic rat heart, this may be a significant additional factor in the marked decrease in the flux of glucose through the glycolytic route in the myocardium in diabetes.