Role of adrenaline and cyclic AMP in appearance of tyrosine aminotransferase in perinatal rat liver.

1. Adrenaline increased hepatic tyrosine aminotransferase activity when injected into foetal rats or 2-day-old rats. 2. The inhibition of the postnatal increase in tyrosine aminotransferase activity which occurred in adrenalectomized newborn rats rapidly overcome by injection of adrenaline or dibutyryl cyclic AMP. 3. The effects of adrenaline or dibutyryl cyclic AMP on the tyrosine aminotransferase activity in foetal, adrenalectomized newborn and 2-day-old rats could be partially or completely blocked by prior treatment with actinomycin D. 4. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP induced tyrosine aminotransferase activity in hepatocytes cultured from 15-day foetal rats in glucocorticoid-free medium. 5. Actinomycin D at 0.2 microgram/ml in the culture medium completely prevented the induction of tyrosine aminotransferase activity by dibutyryl cyclic AMP in cultured cells. 6. The results suggest that adrenaline and cyclic AMP stimulate a transcriptional event during induction of tyrosine aminotransferase in perinatal liver.