HEPATIC GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATASE DEVELOPMENT IN PRETERM AND FULL-TERM GUINEA-PIGS - COMPARISON WITH RAT AND HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT

In term infants, hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activity rises several- fold in the first few days after birth. In contrast, in many preterm i nfants, the postnatal rise in activity does not occur and the abnormal ly low levels can persist. In an attempt to determine if prematurity c auses long-term changes in levels of glucose-6-phosphatase in liver of all mammals, we have studied the ontogeny of glucose-6-phosphatase in term guinea-pigs, and also in guinea-pigs delivered prematurely by Ca esarean section. The activity of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase in pret erm guinea-pigs is about 5-fold lower than in term guinea-pigs at birt h but the activity rises rapidly to very similar values to those found in term guinea-pigs. This indicates that prematurity alone does not r esult in abnormal development of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activit y in guinea pigs. The changes in liver glucose-6-phosphatase activity in the postnatal period in term guinea-pigs were much smaller than tho se occurring in term postnatal rats or term infants. Copyright (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science Inc.