Changes in Glucose-6-phosphatase Activity in Liver and Kidney at Birth

GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATASE catalyses the last step in the chain of reactions by which glycogen is converted to glucose. The enzyme is found only in liver, kidney and intestinal mucosa. Its activity is low in fœtal liver and increases at birth in the guinea pig 1 and the rat 2 . Glucose-6-phosphatase has been measured in human liver only in the first half of gestation. Cori and Schulman 3 found very low levels in an 18-week fœtus. Villee 4 used the production of glucose by liver slices as a measure of glucose-6-phosphatase. Activity appeared about the tenth week of gestation and had reached about half adult levels by 22 wk. Aurichio and Rigillo 5 found low, but variable, activity in postmortem material from 20 to 40 weeks of gestation.