Biochemical development of preimplantation mouse embryos: In vivo activities of fructose 1,6-diphosphate aldolase,glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase,malate dehydrogenase,and lactate dehydrogenase

The activities of four enzymes were determined during the first four days of mouse embryogenesis. Two enzymes, fructose 1,6-diphosphate aldolase and malate dehydrogenase, increase about 30% in activity, and this increase is attributed to slow but continued enzyme synthesis. The other two enzymes, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (X-linked) and lactate dehydrogenase, remain constant for the first two days and then decline exponentially with half-times of 19 and 17 hr, respectively. These declines in activity cannot be explained by the appearance of soluble inactivators or by the disappearance of soluble activators. Likewise, although temporally related to the passage of the embryos from the oviducts into the uterine horns, the changes in enzyme activity do not result from this change in embryonic environment, and specific degradative processes beginning on day 2 of embryonic development are postulated.This study was supported by USPHS Grant HD 03132 and by a grant from the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. The senior author is the recipient of USPHS Research Career Development Award HD 35,565.