L-glutamate dehydrogenase in rat and human fetal liver slices

Preliminary experiments showed that hepatic glutamate dehydrogenase (EC 1.4.1.2. L-glutamate: NAD oxidoreductase) appears almost simultaneously with the development of the liver in the earliest human fetuses studied. Glutamate dehydrogenase activity was readily evident at 12 weeks of development and had doubled by 16 weeks. Glutamate dehydrogenase was present on the 17th day of development in the rat liver and increased to a maximum some two weeks after birth, remaining at that level until at least eight weeks of age. The present paper shows that the activity of glutamic dehydrogenase is increased greatly when liver slices are incubated in vitro in the presence of glutamate or certain other substances.