Estrogen Control of Uterine Carbohydrate Metabolism: Factors Affecting Glucose Utilization

Abstract

The mechanisms by which estradiol- 17β controls uterine glucose metabolism have been further characterized by altering the rate of glucose uptake and the concentration of electron acceptors under in vitro incubation conditions. Results indicate that early estrogen effects on glucose metabolism are manifest via alterations in the rate of glucose transport into uterine tissue slices. Later estrogen effects on glucose metabolism are probably the result of increased availability of NADP+ and eventually elevated glucose-6-phosphate:NADP oxidoreductase activity. The rate of incorporation of l4C into total uterine lipids from glucose-l-14C, glucose- 6-14C and pyruvate-3-14C increases linearly as a function of time after estradiol injection. Dissimilar changes in the total activity of several dehydrogenases occur in the uterus of the ovariectomized rat 12 hr after a single injection of estradiol. (Endocrinology79: 1069, 1966