Development of phenobarbital-sensitive control mechanisms for uridine diphosphate glucuronyltransferase activity in chick embryo liver.

Uridine diphosphate (UDP) glucuronyltransferase activity in chick liver rises at hatching from near zero to adult levels. This rise will occur prematurely in embryo liver during organ culture. Increase in enzyme activity during organ culture differs with embryo age: in liver from 11-day old embryos it ceases at adult values; in liver from 5-day old embryos it continues to much higher-than-adult levels. Phenobarbital added to culture medium accelerates these rises in enzyme activity and elevates the plateau reached in 11-day embryo liver to that observed in 5-day embryo liver. Kinetic analysis of the changes in enzyme activity induced by phenobarbital during culture suggests that the regulatory mechanisms for enzyme activity are different in 5- and 11-day embryo liver and that these differences reflect developmental changes occurring in ovo.