Citrate-cleavage enzyme, `malic' enzyme and certain dehydrogenases in embryonic and growing chicks

The activities of several enzymes possibly implicated in lipogenesis were measured in the soluble fraction of homogenates of liver and adipose tissue of embryonic and growing chicks. The activities of adipose-tissue enzymes showed little or no change. The activities of hepatic hexose monophosphate-shunt dehydrogenases, malate dehydrogenase, 3-phosphoglyceraldehyde dehydrogenase and NAD-linked α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase also showed little or no change. Isocitrate dehydrogenase activity in liver rose to a peak on the day of hatching and fell to half the peak value during the next 12 days, where it remained to 26 days after hatching. The activities of `malic' enzyme and citrate-cleavage enzyme showed very low stable values in embryonic liver and remarkable rises during the early part of the post-hatching period. An 85-fold increase in the activity of `malic' enzyme activity was completed in 7 days and a 15-fold increase in that of citrate-cleavage enzyme in 5 days. The activities then attained were maintained up to 26 days after hatching. 2. The increases in the activities of hepatic citrate-cleavage enzyme and `malic' enzyme occurred simultaneously with a marked increase in lipogenesis, suggesting a relationship of these enzymes to lipogenesis in chick liver. By contrast, activity of the hexose monophosphate-shunt dehydrogenases does not appear to be thus associated.