Effects of tumour necrosis factor-alpha on the enzymatic activities related to glucose metabolism.

The effects of an intravenous administration of a single dose (100 micrograms/kg bw) of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF, cachectin) on in vivo glucose oxidation and on several enzymatic activities related with glucose metabolism both in rat liver and skeletal muscle were studied. The treatment with the cytokine induced an increase in the oxidation of glucose, the differences being significant from minute 30. In contrast, TNF did not induce any change on the activities of glucokinase, hexokinase, pyruvate kinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, although significant increase in the activity of muscle phosphofructokinase was observed.