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Development of chick embryo liver during organ culture: Requirement for zinc‐insulin
Author(s) -
Benzo Camillo A.,
de la Haba Gabriel
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.1040790106
Subject(s) - glycogen , insulin , glycogen phosphorylase , endoplasmic reticulum , glycogen synthase , embryo , zinc , organ culture , medicine , hepatocyte , biology , endocrinology , enzyme , ultrastructure , biochemistry , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , in vitro , anatomy , organic chemistry
Abstract Livers from five‐day chick embryos maintained as organ cultures on Eagle's minimum essential medium (MEM) develop an ultrastructure similar to more mature liver cells, except for glycogen deposits and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) normally associated with such deposits. The enzymes, glycogen synthetase and glycogen phosphorylase, failed to develop in these cells. The addition of zinc‐free insulin (insulin‐HCl) to MEM promoted the development of small amounts of SER in the cultured cells, as well as an increase in both glycogen synthetase and phosphorylase activities. The addition of zinc‐insulin also stimulated an increase in the activities of both enzymes, and promoted the development of greater amounts of SER and the deposition of glycogen, as well. In addition, both forms of insulin not only prevented the fall of total tissue protein which occurs during organ culture on MEM, but also stimulated net protein synthesis in the explanted liver (Benzo and de la Haba, '71).