Gluconeogenesis in hepatocytes of immature rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): control by estradiol.

Estradiol treatment of starving immature rainbow trout dramatically alters the metabolic performance of isolated hepatocytes. One and two weeks postimplantation with estradiol, the rate of de novo glucose synthesis from [14C]alanine is reduced fourfold from 0.4 mumol/g/hr to 0.1 mumol/g/hr, compared with vehicle-injected control fish. After 6 weeks, the rate of glucose production on a gram wet weight basis is identical in both treatment groups, but significantly larger (by 80%) in the estradiol-treated group than in the controls, if expressed normalized to the hepatosomatic index (HSI). Estradiol treatment caused preferential partitioning of alanine carbon into oxidative pathways away from gluconeogenesis, indicated by a significantly lower ratio of glucose production over CO2 production in hepatocytes isolated from estradiol-treated animals. Incorporation of [14C]alanine into acid-precipitable protein is significantly larger in the estradiol-treated group after 2 weeks, and also after 6 weeks, when normalized to the HSI, indicating that part of the protein synthesized in the estradiol-treated groups is vitellogenin. No differences were detected between estradiol-treated animals and control animals in the activities of enzymes associated with gluconeogenesis [phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase)] and amino acid metabolism (alanine and aspartate aminotransferases) in the time course investigated (expressed on a wet weight basis). Activities normalized to the HSI are higher in fish implanted with estradiol compared with controls at 2 and 6 weeks. In keeping with the increased potential of hepatocytes for CO2 production from alanine, estradiol treatment doubled and tripled the maximum activity of pyruvate kinase 1 and 2 weeks postimplantation, respectively. Fish were fasted to avoid erratic feeding due to treatments. Superimposed on estradiol actions are effects of starvation: a fourfold increase in the rate of gluconeogenesis, a threefold increase in oxidative flux, and a fivefold increase in the activity of FBPase--all normalized to hepatocyte weight.