Effect of Insulin Pretreatment on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism of Liver Slices from Normal Rats.

Liver slices from normal fed rats were incubated in physiologic bicarbonate buffer, and the effect of increasing glucose concentration and insulin pretreatment on hepatic glucose metabolism was studied. Exposure of the liver slice to increased levels of glucose resulted in the recovery of more glucose-614C in CO2 relative to lipid pathways. Insulin pretreatment, in the presence of a “high” medium glucose concentration, resulted in a preferential incorporation of glucose-614C into total lipid and triglyceride relative to CO2 and into fatty acid to a greater extent than into glycerol. The effects of insulin were dependent upon the presence of a “high” concentration of glucose in the medium.