Lipogenic activities in rat liver are subjected to circadian rhythms.

Diurnal variations were investigated in the activities of the key lipogenic enzymes in rat liver under standard experimental conditions. Fatty acid synthetase, acetyl-CoA-carboxylase, and ATP-citrate lyase showed sinusoidal circadian rhythms (statistically sustained), reaching maximum activity at night and minimum during the light period, with a fold increase value of 1.7, 2.2 and 3.2, respectively. Although a non-sinusoidal circadian rhythm was observed in the malic enzyme activity, statistically different time-dependent activity values were detected throughout a day. The observed rhythms run in parallel with that previously reported for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, suggesting a whole circadian regulation for rat liver lipogenesis.