Precocious development in utero of certain UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities in rat fetuses exposed to glucocorticoids

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Abstract

The first precocious development of UDP glucuronyltransferase in the mammalian fetus in utero by a known compound of endogenous origin is described. Intraperitoneal injection of cortisol (8 mg) into maternal rats on days 14 and 15 of gestation stimulated fetal-liver transferase activity from near zero to 12 maternal levels by day 17; 0.3 mg dexamethasone, possessing a longer biological half-life, raised activity to full maternal level by day 16. In controls, injected with solvent only, fetal-liver transferase remained low on day 16. With both glucocorticoids, transferase stimulation was dose-dependent. Transferase activities were assayed in a range of digitonin concentrations from zero to above optimal for enzyme activation. Activities stimulated were towards o-aminophenol, p-nitrophenol, 1-naphthol and serotonin. Activities towards bilirubin, morphine and testosterone were not stimulated. The former group of activities are stimulated by glucocorticoids in culture and normally reach approximate adult levels just before birth; the latter group are not so stimulated on culture and normally reach adult levels after birth. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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