Circadian organization of thirteen liver and six brain enzymes of the mouse.

The activities of 13 liver and 6 brain enzymes were studied in 7-12 week old CD2F1 male mice that had been fed ad libitum and standardized either to 12 hours of light (0600-1800) alternating with 12 hours of darkness (1800-0600) (LD12:12); or to a reversed light-dark cycle (darkness 0600-1800; light 1800-0600) (DL12:12). Three separate studies were performed on two different days; in each experiment, subgroups of 14 animals were sacrificed at 3-hour intervals. Livers were assayed for: isocitrate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase, alcohol dehydrogenase, glutathione reductase, glyoxylate reductase, L-alanine aminotransferase, glutamate oxalacetate transaminase, pyruvate decarboxylase, fructose-1-phosphate aldolase, fructose diphosphate aldolase, fructose 1,6-diphosphatase, and fatty acid synthetase. Brains were assayed for phosphoglucose isomerase, adenosine triphosphatase, creatine phosphokinase, pyruvate kinase, adenylate kinase, and malate dehydrogenase. All 19 enzymes demonstrated a prominent circadian rhythm in at least one experiment. Moreover, each rhythmic variable showed a statistically significant fit to a 24-hour cosine (sine) curve by the method of least squares. In general, peak activities of the liver enzymes analyzed were associated with the beginning of the dark cycle and initiation of the animal's activity, while the group of brain enzymes had peak activities which occurred at the beginning of the animals' rest span and were near the beginning of the light cycle. The phasing of each of the rhythms could be reversed within a two-week span after reversing the environmental light-dark cycle 180 degrees.