Abstracts of Communications

s of Communications 569th Meeting of the Biochemical Society held jointly with Soci&t! Belge de Biochemie-Belgische Vereniging voor Biochemie University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, 78, 19 and 20 April 1977 CARBOHYDRATES AND THE MAMMARY GLAND: a Colloquium organized on behalf of the Carbohydrate Biochemistry Group by N. J. Kuhn (Birmingham) and H. G. Coore (Birmingham) Control of Glucose Metabolism in Lactating-Rat Mammary Gland : Effects of Other Substrates, Insulin and Starvation DERMOT H. WILLIAMSON and ALISON M. ROBINSON Metabolic Research Laboratory, Nufield Department of Clinical Medicine, Radcliye Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, U.K. During lactation, the rat mammary gland utilizes considerable amounts of glucose for the synthesis of milk components (lactose, triglyceride and protein). The uptake of glucose by the mammary gland of fed rats at peak lactation can be estimated as about 30mmol/day (see Table 2 below). This must represent a considerable proportion of the total body glucose requirement, especially when it is considered that the glucose turnover in fed male rats of similar weight is some 3&4Ommol/day (see Table 2 below). However, total body glucose turnover is likely to be higher in lactation, since there are gross physiological changes, including increased cardiac output and increased weight of the liver, intestine and mammary gland (Chatwin et al., 1969).