[Characteristics of glycogen synthesis from [1-14C]glucose and its labeled precursors in the piglet liver]

The in vivo experiments have established that the rapid decrease in the glycogen content in the liver of piglets during the first 24 hours after birth is associated with the reduction of the degree of label inclusion from [1-14C]glucose into polysaccharide. The level of label inclusion from [1-14C]pyruvate and [1-14C]lactate into the liver glycogen in new-born piglets is higher than from [1-14C]alanine and [1-14C]glutamic acid. During the days immediately after birth the extension of the pool of glucogenic substrates occurs at the expense of alanine and other amino acids during catabolism of which pyruvate is formed. The degree of label inclusion from the investigated substrates into the liver glycogen of piglets of early age decreases in the series: [1-14C]glucose greater than [1-14C]lactate greater than [1-14C]pyruvate greater than [1-14C]alanine. Glutamic acid in the liver of piglets of early age is not a glucogenic substrate.