In vitro lipogenesis in the liver and adipose tissues of the female Aylesbury duck at different ages.

Abstract

Synopsis The in vitro incorporation of [U — 14C]‐glucose into total lipids was uniformly high in liver slices from birds aged 2, 4 and 10 weeks. The separate addition of prolactin, oestrogen or insulin in vitro always failed to increase the rate of lipogenesis. The rate of incorporation of [U — 14C] glucose in vitro into total lipids of subcutaneous, peritoneal and inguinal adipose tissues decreased with age and was considerably lower than that in the liver. There was no difference between the rates of lipid synthesis in adipose tissues from different sites. Whereas 75% of the glucose converted into total lipids by the liver was recovered as fatty acids, the proportion was only 9 to 15% for adipose tissues. These results suggest that adipose tissue is not an important site for the synthesis of lipid de novo in the growing duck. Hepatic lipogenesis did not reflect the previously reported changes in the rate of fat deposition during growth in the duck.