Abstract
An investigation of the glucose production by isolated hepatocytes from lipemic BHE and nonlipemic Wistar rats was conducted. Hepatocytes were isolated from 40-h starved young rats. Glucose, .beta.-hydroxybutyrate, and acetoacetate production and ATP content of the cells after 60 min incubation with a variety of substrates were determined. BHE hepatocytes produced more glucose and .beta.-hydroxybutyrate than Wistar hepatocytes. No strain differences in ATP content were observed. In part, the hyperglycemia observed in the mature BHE rat may have its origins in the increased hepatic gluconeogenic capacity of this strain.