Hormonal regulation of malate-aspartate shuttle enzymes during postnatal development of mice.

The regulation of malate-aspartate shuttle enzymes by hydrocortisone was studied in the liver and kidney of 15-, 30- and 60-day old mice. It has been observed that adrenalectomy decreases and hydrocortisone treatment to adrenalectomized mice increases the activity of cytosolic and mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase and cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase in the liver of 15-, 30- and 60-day old mice. Per cent decrease following adrenalectomy remained almost similar in all the postnatal ages studied. However, hydrocortisone effect shows age-dependency. In the kidney, adrenalectomy decreases and hydrocortisone treatment increases the activity of these isoenzymes only in 30- and 60-day old mice. These findings entail that the same enzyme in different tissues of developing animals may be regulated differentially by the same physiological stimuli. Our findings on hormonal regulation of malate-aspartate shuttle enzymes show that they are subjected to different physiological control in various tissues during postnatal development of mice.