Multihormonal control of enzyme clusters in rat liver ontogenesis. I. Effects of adrenalectomy and gonadectomy.

The role of glucocorticosteroid hormones in the developmental formation of carbamoyl-phosphate synthase, ornithine transcarbamoylase, arginase, glutamate dehydrogenase, tyrosine aminotransferase, glucose-6-phosphatase, hexokinase and glucokinase activities in rat liver was investigated. Steroid hormone producing glands were either inactivated by hypophysectomy (before birth) or removed by adrenalectomy and/or gonadectomy (after birth). These procedures strongly depressed corticosterone levels. Furthermore, they decreased enzyme activities when performed before birth or after the second postnatal week. However, adrenalectomy at 1 week of age was less effective: the developmental increases in carbamoyl-phosphate synthase, ornithine transcarbamoylase, arginase, tyrosine aminotransferase and glucose-6-phosphatase activity persisted despite the absence of increasing levels of circulating corticosterone.