Developmental changes of protein, RNA, DNA, lipid, and glycogen in the liver, skeletal muscle, and brain of the piglet

A scheme for the sequential quantitative separation and determination of protein, RNA, DNA, lipid, and glycogen from rat-liver homogenate is modified for application to frozen tissues of the piglet. The biochemical methods, including the biuret method, used in the present investigation are described and thoroughly checked. The effects of freezing and storage on the recovery of major tissue constituents are recorded. The modified scheme is applied to the determination of protein, RNA, DNA, lipid, and glycogen in the liver, skeletal muscle, and brain of the developing piglet. Developmental changes for these major tissue constituents, including the biuret protein, are described with special reference to protein synthesis and physiology of growth at the cellular level from 45 days of foetal age to 35-42 days of postnatal age for liver and skeletal muscle, and from birth to 31-40 days of postnatal age for the cerebrum and cerebellum. The uniformly labelled amino acid, 14C-L-leucine, is used to study protein synthesis. Developmental patterns of labelling of protein and lipid in the liver, skeletal muscle, cerebrum, and cerebellum of the piglet from birth up to the age of two weeks are described. The results of the methodological, developmental, and experimental studies are thoroughly discussed in the light of the relevant literature and compared with those obtained in developmental and experimental studies on rats and other mammal species. (author)