Cortisone and the Regulation of Hepatic Gluconeogenesis1

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Abstract
In order to evaluate further the role of adrenal steroids in hepatic gluconeogenesis, pyruvate-2-C14 and Cl4O2 have been (1) incubated with liver slices from normal rats or rats treated with cortisone, and C14 incorporation into glucose, glycogen, and fatty acids measured and (2) injected into normal rats or rats treated with cortisone, and the concentration and specific activity of the blood glucose and liver glycogen determined. In the liver slices from the cortisone treated animals there was an increased incorporation of pyruvate (at 40 mM concentration) and CO2 into glucose relative to glycogen. This is in keeping with the elevation of liver glucose-6-phosphatase activity that occurs during cortisone administration. Twice as much pyruvate was incorporated into glycogen plus glucose in the cortisone treated as in the control rat liver slices when the pyruvate was present at a low concentration (0.6 mM). In the intact rats incorporation of CO2 and pyruvate into both glycogen and glucose was increased several fold by cortisone administration. These results are consonant with the role of CO2 fixation in gluconeogenesis from pyruvate and the recognized increase in gluconeogenesis from amino acids in the presence of cortisone.