Carbohydrate formation from various precursors in noenatal rat liver.

1. Measurements of the net synthesis of glucose plus glycogen from various precursors in slices of glycogen-depleted livers from rats at various stages of development indicated an increase in the gluconeogenic capacity after birth with l-lactate, oxaloacetate, a casein hydrolysate, l-serine, l-threonine, l-alanine and glycerol as substrates. 2. The highest rates of incorporation of (14)C-labelled precursors into glucose plus glycogen in slices of normal livers of rats of various ages were observed in such tissue preparations from neonatal animals for an amino acid mixture, l-alanine, l-serine and l-threonine. 3. The activities of rat hepatic l-serine dehydratase and l-threonine dehydratase increase rapidly after birth and show maxima about 20 days later. 4. The results provide further evidence of the increased capacity for hepatic gluconeogenesis in the neonatal period and suggest various sites of regulation of the process.