Fetal Lung Lecithin Metabolism in the Glucose-Intolerant Rhesus Monkey Pregnancy

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Abstract
Fetal lung lecithin metabolism was examined in rhesus monkey [Macaca .mu.ulatta] gestations complicated by glucose intolerance secondary to maternal streptozotocin (STZ) administration. Fetuses of STZ-treated mothers were delivered at 85-89% of term and were compared to 2 control groups of fetuses from normal pregnancies.sbd.one group age-matched to the STZ pregnancies, and the other composed of fetuses delivered in the final 10% of gestation. In the glucose-intolerant pregnancies, 2 measures of fetal lung lecithin biosynthesis, the amniotic fluid lecithin-to-sphingomyelin ratio and the rate of 14C-choline incorporation into lecithin in fetal lung slices, were significantly greater than in age-matched normal gestations and were similar to results in late-gestation controls. Lung lecithin concentrations in the glucose-intolerant group were comparable to the age-matched controls, and both were significantly less than in the late-gestation controls. Since the gestational age, mode of delivery and fetal acid-base status were the same in the age-matched groups, these changes in fetal lung lecithin metabolism are due to the effects of maternal glucose intolerance.

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