Glucose metabolism and its regulation in pieces of perirenal adipose tissue from foetal lambs.

1. The following were measured in pieces of perirenal adipose tissue obtained from foetal lambs at about 120 days of gestation or within 3 days of term, and 9-month-old sheep: the rates of synthesis from glucose of fatty acids, acylglycerol glycerol, pyruvate and lactate; the rate of glucose oxidation to CO2 and the proportions contributed by the pentose phosphate cycle, pyruvate dehydrogenase and the tricarboxylic acid cycle; the activities of hexokinase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase and pyruvate dehydrogenase. 2. The total rate of glucose utilization was lower in pieces of adipose tissue from near-term lambs than 120-day foetal lambs and the pattern of glucose metabolism differed, with, for example, a much smaller proportion of glucose carbon being used for fatty acid synthesis, whereas a greater proportion of glucose oxidation occurred via the tricarboxylic acid cycle in the near-term lambs. In general, these differences in glucose metabolism were not associated with differences in the activities of the various enzymes listed above. 3. The rates of glucose utilization per fat-cell by 120-day foetal lambs and 9-month-old sheep were very similar but, again, the proportions metabolized to the various products differed. In particular, there was a smaller proportion of glucose oxidized via the pentose phosphate cycle and a greater proportion oxidized via pyruvate dehydrogenase and the tricarboxylic acid cycle in adipose tissue from foetal lambs. These differences were matched by a lower activity of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and a higher pyruvate dehydrogenase activity in fat-cells from the foetal lambs.