[Enzyme activities in cultured fetal rat hepatocytes]

Several enzymes of amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism were studied in primary cultures of fetal rat hepatocytes. One day after plating, activity of both esterase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase decreased to half of the freshly isolated hepatocytes, and then remained constant. Acid phosphatase revealed lower activity after plating but recovered to the same levels of isolated cells on day-8. Leucine aminopeptidase and glutathione S-transferase showed a peak of activity respectively on day-6 and day-8. On the other hand, activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, hexokinase and pyruvate kinase increased linearly from Day-1, but only pyruvate kinase reached a plateau on Day-2. These results suggest that different patterns of enzyme activities in the culture might be a reflection, both of a release from homeostatis and adaptation to a new environment.