Perinatal development of amine, alcohol and phenol sulfoconjugations in the rat

Development of the sulfoconjugating activities for amine, alcoholic and phenolic compounds was studied in hepatic 105,000 g supernatants of fetal and newborn rats. All activities in the fetus at the late stage of pregnancy were negligible or very low when compared with those of the adult female level. Amine and alcohol sulfoconjugating activities were low 2 days after birth, increased with age, and attained the adult female level 17 days after birth. In contrast, phenol sulfoconjugating activity was nearly half the level of adult female rats in the neonates 2 days after birth and was relatively constant before maturation. There were no sex-related differences in any of the activities in the immature rats, but in adult animals the activities for amine and alcohol were higher in the females than in the males; the opposite was observed for phenol sulfoconjugation.