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Effect of Length of Starvation, Refeeding, and 8-Azaguanine on Serum Insulin and NADP-linked Dehydrogenases of Rat Liver

Human Nutrition Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705

The effects of length of starvation and treatment with 8-azaguanine during subsequent refeeding were studied in young (150 to 200 g) male, specific pathogen-free, Wistar rats. Increased length of starvation caused progressively greater decreases in relative liver size and the activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme. The level of immunoreactive serum insulin was minimum after 1 day of starvation and did not further decrease during prolonged starvation. After refeeding, serum insulin levels were highest on the first day of refeeding; the difference between starved and 1-day-refed values increased with increased periods of starvation. The overshoot of enzyme activities of ad libitum-fed values in rats refed for two days was prevented by 8-azaguanine. Pair-feeding experiments have shown that the effect of azaguanine was not due to the reduction in food intake caused by the antibiotic. Recovery of enzyme activities in rats treated with azaguanine during refeeding a high glucose diet was similar whether rats were prefed a commercial ration or a high glucose diet previous to starvation, and was not related to the length of starvation. The activities of both enzymes were increased by feeding a high glucose diet ad libitum as compared to rats fed ad libitum a commercial diet. The data suggest that the specific RNA components responsible for the maintenance of hepatic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme levels are stable during starvation and that the expression of RNA in terms of enzyme activity is influenced by the diet fed.