抄録
One of the authors (T.N.) has previously reported that TCA cycle activity in the extrahepatic tissues is accelerated in pregnancy, particularly in its late period. Of course, lipoic acid, a coenzyme of α-keto acid oxidation, has a close relation to the TCA cycle activity, and the succinic dehydrogenase activity is also usually regarded as a sign of TCA cycle activity. We have estimated both the lipoic acid content and the succinic dehydrogenas eactivity of some organs of pregnant and non-pregnant rats of Wistar strain. The results show that there is a correlation between the lipoic acid content and the succinic dehydrogenase activity in each organ. Then lipoic acid (5mg/kg) is injected intraabdominally on pregnant and non-pregnant rats. The succinic dehydrogenase activity shows no significant change in 3 or 24 hours, but when injection is continued for a week, succinic dehydrogenase activity shows some tendency to get accelerated. These results suggest that lipoic acid has a close relation to TCA cycle acceleration in extrahepatic tissues in pregnancy.
