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Published on: October 21, 2015
Testicular enzymes as a marker of development in human fetus
C Datta1, T Sengupta, J Dasgupta
1Department of Biochemistry, University College of Science, University of Calcutta, India.
Abstract:
The activities of different testicular enzymes, as a marker of development, have been determined at various gestational ages. The enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase shows peak activity between 25 and 28 weeks of gestation, whereas the peak of hyaluronidase was observed between 14 and 16 weeks of gestation. The activities of pentose phosphate enzymes, such as glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and transketolase in developing human fetus reach the highest level between 25 and 28 weeks and 21 and 24 weeks of gestation, respectively, indicating the most actively synthesizing period of the fetus for providing NADPH and ribose-5-phosphate for steroidogenesis and nucleotide and nucleic acid synthesis.
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