| The effect of maternal dietary glucose on perinatal phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) gene expression was investigated in this study. Pregnant rats were fed isoclaoric diets containing graded levels of glucose (0%, 12%, 24% and 60%) from gestation day 2 to lactation day 15. The developmental profiles of PEPCK gene expression in fetal and neonatal liver and kidney were analyzed by northern blot. In the liver, feeding glucose free and glucose restriction (12% and 24%) diets precociously induced PEPCK gene expression at day 21 of gestation. In the kidney, PEPCK mRNA (2.8 kb) was detected at birth in the glucose free group, 12-16 hours postnatally in control group; it was not visualized until day 3 in the 12% and 24% glucose restriction groups. In our study, two species of RNA (1.8 kb and 2.8 kb) were hybridized with PEPCK cDNA probes, and there was a relationship between maternal dietary glucose levels and the 1.8 kb RNA fragment in the kidney. |
