Studies of an in Vitro Effect of Glucocorticoids on Gluconeogenesis

Abstract

The synthesis of carbohydrate from amino acids and other compounds was studied, using liver tissue slices prepared from fasted, adrenalectomized rats. It was found that glucocorticoids added in low concentrations to the incubation system stimulated carbohydrate formation when either L-alanine or L-serine was supplied as substrate. The carbohydrate that was formed was shown to be glucose or compounds yielding glucose upon acid hydrolysis. The slices responded regularly to steroid concentrations of 10^-6 M, and in occasional experiments with triamcinolone (l,4-pregnadiene-9α fluoro-11β, 16α, 17α, 21-tetrol-3, 20-dione) a response was seen with concentrations as low as 10-8 M. Triamcinolone, cortisol and corticosterone were active but all other steroids tested were inactive at 10^-5 M. These included desoxycorticosterone, dihydrocortisol (pregnan-11 (1,17α, 21-triol-3, 20-dione), Reichstein's compound E (4-pregnen-llβ, 17α, 20β-tetrol-3-one), testosterone and progesterone. No statistically significant effect of triamcinolone was observed consistently when other precursors of carbohydrate were substituted for L-alanine or L-serine.