Influence of maternal diabetes on fetal rat development: alteration of insulin receptors in fetal liver and lung
- 1 September 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Bioscientifica in Journal of Endocrinology
- Vol. 98 (3) , 401-410
- https://doi.org/10.1677/joe.0.0980401
Abstract
The influence of maternal diabetes on fetal development was studied in rats made diabetic by administration of streptozotocin on day 2 of gestation as well as in genetically diabetic BB Wistar rats. A dose of 65 mg streptozotocin/kg produced severe diabetes with plasma glucose levels of approximately 36 mmol/l, this was associated with fetal growth retardation but not fetal hyperinsulinaemia. In contrast, a smaller dose of streptozotocin (45 mg/kg) produced moderate diabetes with plasma glucose levels of approximately 20 mmol/l and was associated with fetal hyperinsulinaemia but only a marginal effect on fetal size. In both groups of diabetic animals, maternal body weight gain was decreased, maternal plasma insulin levels were low and fetal glucose levels were similar. In a small group of genetically diabetic BB rats on insulin therapy the fetuses were macrosomic and hyperinsulinaemic. The specific binding of 125I-labelled insulin to partially purified liver and lung membranes of fetuses of both groups of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats was significantly lower than the binding to membranes from fetuses of control animals. The specific binding of 125I-labelled insulin to fetal liver and lung membranes from the diabetic BB Wistar rats also appeared to be reduced when compared to tissues from controls. Decreased insulin receptors in fetal lung and liver of diabetic rats suggest a role for insulin in the development of these organs during the fetal and neonatal period.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fetal rat lung phosphatidylcholine synthesis in diabetic and normal pregnanciesBiochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Lipids and Lipid Metabolism, 1981
- The Influence of Hormones on the Biochemical Development of Fetal Rat Lung in Organ Culture. II. InsulinPediatric Research, 1980
- The Infant of the Diabetic MotherNew England Journal of Medicine, 1979
- Studies of Insulin, Growth Hormone and Prolactin Binding: Tissue Distribution, Species Variation and CharacterizationEndocrinology, 1974