Glutamic dehydrogenase in the developing chick embryo

Abstract

An increase of glutamic dehydrogenase (GDH) activity in yolk of the hen''s egg is shown to occur in the mid-incubation period. Generally, the levels of GDH in embryonic tissues are less than those of tissues of the hen except for the blastoderm and 2-day-old embryo, which have GDH levels as high as those of some hen tissues. GDH increases pari passu with total protein in the whole embryo and yolk sac from the 4th and 6th day of incubation respectively. GDH activity in the chick embryo and its extra-embryonic tissues during development has been shown to have similarities with certain other enzyme activities. In certain tissue of chick embryos during later developmental stages, considerable surges of activity are found to occur which may be associated with functional differentiation.