Ana
Francisca Soares1,2, John Griffith Jones1, Francisco
Veiga2, Rui Albuquerque Carvalho1
1Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and
Technology and Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, University of
Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; 2Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of
Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
The
liver stores carbohydrate and lipid after a meal under insulin stimulation.
Using deuterated water, we assessed hepatic glycogen synthesis and de novo
lipogenesis in healthy and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats feeding
overnight. Hepatic glycogen and lipid content were analyzed by 2H-NMR.
Healthy animals showed similar direct and indirect pathway contributions to
glycogen. Following Diabetes induction we observed a progressive loss of
direct pathway capacity compared to the indirect and also a reduction of de
novo lipogenesis. These observations may serve as valuable markers for assessing
alterations in hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism during the progress
Diabetes.