Development of enzymes of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in human fetal liver

The activities of two key enzymes of glycolysis and two key enzymes of gluconeogenesis were measured in liver samples from 44 human fetuses ranging in gestational age from 20 weeks to term, from infants to 10 years and from adults from 21 to 58 years. Specific activities of both gluconeogenic enzymes, fructose-1,6-biphosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, increased throughout the period of fetal development examined, and rose to near adult levels after birth. The activities of both glycolytic enzymes, phosphofructokinase 1 and pyruvate kinase, were lower in fetal than in pediatric and adult samples. For both of these enzymes, there was a significant reduction in activity of livers from fetuses of 34-37 weeks' gestation. Both enzymes showed hyperbolic kinetics at 24 weeks' gestation, but this changed to sigmoid kinetics during the 34-37 weeks' period of low activity. The data indicate that during the last weeks of gestation, inhibition of the activities of these two glycolytic enzymes, coupled with the rise in the two gluconeogenic enzymes, may reflect a change in liver from a primarily glycolytic role in the first two trimesters to a gluconeogenic role shortly before birth.