The Stimulation of Glycogen Synthesis and of Glycogen Synthetase in the Liver by Glucocorticoids

In the N.M.R.I. mouse which has been treated by prednisolone the blood glucose level is only slightly increased and its turnover rate is not changed; the conversion of glucose to liver glycogen is greatly stimulated and the activity of glycogen synthetase in the liver is increased in a similar proportion, at least when it is measured in a concentrated liver homogenate. This activation of the glycogen synthetase also accounts for a simultaneous decrease in the concentration of UDPG and of glucose 6‐phosphate in the liver.