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Antiketonemic Effect of Glycerol During Development of the Rat¹

Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine and Division of Research for Mental Retardation, W. P. Carter Center, Baltimore, MD 21201

Glycerol, which decreased circulating levels of ketone bodies in adults, was tested for its antiketonemic action in developing rats. Following intraperitoneal injection of glycerol in rats from 2 to 90 days of age, blood levels of 3-hydroxybutyrate (ßHOB) decreased and reached minimum values in 35–40 minutes. The pattern of recovery in suckling animals (2, 7 and 14 days of age) differed from that of 24-, 35- and 90-day-old rats. Glycerol did not change blood acetoacetate (Ac₂) levels in suckling rats but caused marked reductions in fasted older animals. The effect of glycerol on the compared to all other groups. Glycerol did not raise blood glucose levels in neonatal or suckling rats. These developmental patterns of response to glycerol differed remarkedly from those to alanine, suggesting differential antiketonemic mechanisms for these two compounds. This is supported by the differential antiketogenic effect of these two compounds on in vitro rates of ßHOB synthesis in liver homogenates from rats injected with either glycerol or alanine.

KEY WORDS: • glycerol • acetoacetate • 3-hydroxybutyrate • development

¹ This work was supported by grant no. HD6291 from the National Institutes of Health.

Manuscript received 28 December 1981.