Phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase 2 and CTP-phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase expressions are related with protein kinase C isozymes in developmental liver growth.

PEMT and CT activities were reciprocally regulated during the perinatal period. Consistently, PEMT2 expression was undetectable before birth when CT was highly expressed. Surprisingly, PEMT2 was relatively highly expressed at birth when the cell division and CT expression were still high. During development liver cell growth was associated with enhanced levels in the activity of beta, zeta and, particularly, alpha PKC. The activity of delta PKC was lower in foetal, higher in the newborn and again slightly lower than adult liver 10 days after birth. These data show that CT expression and alpha, beta and zeta PKC activities are positively, whereas PEMT2 expression and delta PKC activity are negatively associated with the liver cell division during development.