[Effect of starvation and diabetes on the activity of glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenases and on the free fatty acid content of rat kidney cortex and medulla].

Activity of dehydrogenases related to pentosephosphate pathway was not distinctly altered in soluble fraction of kidney cortex and medulla after 48 and 72 hrs of starvation. In diabetes the activity of these enzymes in rat kidney, as distinct from liver tissue, was not decreased but it was elevated and within 72 hrs after administration of alloxan the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was increased 2-fold and the activity of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase was increased by 30% above the normal level. Content of free fatty acids was also increased in kidney cortex of diabetic rats within 72 hrs after administration of alloxan. Alterations in content of free fatty acids were not observed either in kidney of diabetic animals within other studied periods (6 and 14-16 days) of treatment or in the tissue of starved rats. The data obtained suggest that free fatty acids do not participate immediately in controlling effect on dehydrogenases of pentosephosphate pathway in kidney in vivo.