Studies on the control of fatty acid oxidation in liver preparations from chick embryos

The characteristics and developmental pattern of the metabolic pathway for fatty acid oxidation were investigated in liver slices and mitochondria prepared from chick embryos of varying ages. In 8-day-old chick embryos, hepatic fatty acid oxidation was readily measurable. The incorporation of labelled palmitate into CO2 was increased twofold by carnitine in liver slices of 8-day-old chick embryos but by nearly sixfold to tenfold in tissues prepared from 10- or 12-day-old embryos. A similar increase was seen in the degree of augmentation of ketogenesis induced by carnitine in liver slices prepared from the 10-day-old embryo, suggesting an increased carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity in liver cells during the stage of development from 8 to 10 days. Palmitoyl-CoA was not metabolized in the absence of carnitine, whereas the palmitoyl portion of palmitoylcarnitine readily supported respiration by embryonic chick liver mitochondria. In the presence of adequate amounts of albumin, good respiratory control was evident.The administration of glucose to chick eggs which had previously been incubated for approximately 4.5 days resulted in changes in the metabolism of embryos killed 5 days later, which indicated that tissues of the chick embryo were capable of integrative metabolic adaptations in response to changes in substrate supply.