[Ontogenic properties of ketone body metabolism in pig tissues]

When incubating the liver slices of pig fetuses in the Krebs-Ringer phosphate buffer without substrates and with addition of butyrate and acetate a considerably lesser amount of ketone bodies is formed than with incubation of the liver slices of adult pigs. Therefore, a higher level of the ketone bodies in blood and tissues of the fetuses as compared to adult pigs is not due to ketogenesis in their liver, but is a result of their entering from the mother or formation in the placenta. When incubated in the above-mentioned medium the fetus skeletal muscle slices utilize exogenous acetoacetate in a significantly more quantity than the muscle slices of the adult animals. The liver and skeletal muscle slices of the fetuses reduce endogenous and exogenous acetoacetate into beta-hydroxybutyrate more intensively as compared to slices of the same tissues of the adult animals.