THE INFLUENCE OF GONADAL HORMONES ON THE UPTAKE OF [14C]ACETATE BY LIVER LIPID FRACTIONS IN THE IMMATURE MALE CHICK

Abstract

SUMMARY Six-week-old cockerels with an equalized food intake and receiving by injection oestrogen, androgen or progesterone were used in an investigation on the influence of the gonadal hormones on the rate of uptake of [14C]acetate into liver lipid fractions. The results obtained indicate that oestrogen was the only one of these hormones that affected the overall lipid composition of the liver significantly. However, although in all these treatments most of the label was incorporated into the triglyceride fraction, both testosterone and progesterone showed incorporation-time patterns which differed substantially from those obtained in control and oestrogen-treated birds. There was a very rapid incorporation of label into the liver lipids of the testosterone and progesterone-treated birds and the amount incorporated was greater than the maximum incorporation obtained at a later time in the control or oestrogen-treated birds. It is possible that a different biosynthetic pathway is utilized in the formation of triglycerides in testosterone and progesterone-treated birds than in oestrogen-treated birds. The results indicate also that although testosterone and progesterone do not influence the overall lipid composition of the liver, they exert a significant influence on metabolic processes involving the synthesis and degradation of liver lipids.