Studies on gluconeogenesis

Following stimulation with adrenal steroids a series of metabolic changes occur leading to increased protein catabolism and increased glucose production. Specific hepatic enzymes whose activities are known to increase under these conditions are: glucose-6-phosphatase, phosphohexose isomerase, fructose diphosphatase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, trypophan pyrrolase, alanine-α-ketoglutarate transaminase, tyrosine-αketoglutarate transaminase, glutamic dehydrogenase, arginase, argininosuccinase and arginine synthetase. Acceleration of all of these reactions would be expected to contribute to glucose formation. At present, it is not known whether the activities of these enzymes increase as a direct consequence of steroid action, or whether they are sequentially induced as the result of metabolic events resulting from a single primary interaction of the hormone.