The isozyme pattern and total activity of adenylate kinase were studied in normal
adult and fetal human and rat tissues using starch gel electrophoresis. Three adenylate kinase
isoenzymes were identified in human tissues. Although normal adult lung exhibited higher
adenylate kinase activity than did its fetal or neoplastic variant, isozyme patterns in the three
types of tissues were indistinguishable from each other and from that in fetal human liver. The
pattern of these three isozymes in rat lung (as in spleen) also did not change between fetal and
adult life. However, adult kidney and heart of this species did appear to contain isozymes not
present in fetal life. Brain (both adult and fetal) was strikingly different from all the other
tissues in that it contained only one adenylate kinase isozyme.
The total adenylate kinase activity per gram of adult rat liver, kidney and lung was significantly
higher than in the cognate fetal organs, whereas that in brain or spleen did not change
with age. The activity in adult heart (similar to the fetal one) was higher than in any other
tissue examined.
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