THE EFFECT OF GROWTH HORMONE ON THE UTILIZATION OF 1-C14OCTANOIC ACID BY RAT LIVER SLICES
Young ([Formula: see text] months), adult (4–5 months), and old (2(+) years) rats were injected with growth hormone intraperitoneally in doses of 4 mg./100 g. at various intervals of time before removal of the liver. Slices of liver were incubated with radioactive octanoic acid and the production of CO2and acetoacetic acid measured.In adult rats fed ad libitum, growth hormone injected 4 hours before the rats were killed had no consistent effect on acetoacetic acid or carbon dioxide production by the liver slices. In adult rats fasted 24 hours before they were killed, growth hormone was likewise found to have no effect on ketogenesis and CO2production irrespective of whether it was injected 4, 12, or 24 hours before the rats were killed. Young rats that were fasted 24 hours and to which growth hormone was administered at the 20th hour of fasting showed a slight ketogenesis but the values for the specific activity of the acetoacetic acid suggested the increased ketogenesis was not derived from the labelled fatty acid. No effect on CO2production was noted. In old rats that were fasted 24 hours and to which growth hormone was given at the 20th hour of fasting, a slight decrease in acetoacetic acid formation by the liver slices was observed which appeared to be due to an over-all reduction in fatty acid utilization. There was again no alteration in CO2production. Treatment of adult rats for 5 days with growth hormone, followed by incubation of the liver slices with octanoate, was found to influence neither ketogenesis nor CO2production.