A comparison of glucose metabolism and related hormonal parameters in two strains of mice having differing hepatic glucokinase activities

Parameters of glucose metabolism in the livers of two inbred strains of mice, C3H/He and C58, which have high- and low-glucokinase activities respectively, have been determined. Unlike insulin concentrations, the plasma glucagon concentrations are similar in the two strains. Certain of the numbers of insulin receptors per hepatocyte cell surface area were higher in starved than fed animals of the same strain but affinities were the same, while only small differences in receptor numbers were found between the strains in starved animals. The difference in glucokinase activity, determined spectrophotometrically and confirmed by measurements of detritiation of [2-3H]glucose by hepatocytes incubated in vitro, does not apparently influence the minimal rate of glucose recycling as measured by the relative loss of 3H and 14C from [2-3H, U-14C]glucose. The development profiles for the two strains show a marked developmental difference arising around 20 days after birth.