Division of Pathology, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2013 Feb;137(2):302-7.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Maternal undernutrition and hyperglycaemia during pregnancy, as well as foetal undernutrition affecting the development of foetal endocrine pancreas structure and function, especially that of β-cells is well known. This study was undertaken to look into the changes in pancreatic islets morphology of aborted normal human foetuses (16-20 wk old) of undernourished and adequately nourished mothers.
Foetuses were collected over a 24 month period from medically terminated pregnancies of six undernourished mothers (BMI <18.5 kg/m² and eight adequately nourished mothers (BMI >18.5 kg/m². The sections were stained with haematoxylin & eosin as well as Masson trichrome for morphometric estimates such as islet count, area, volume, etc. and immunohistochemistry analysis of β-cells for insulin presence was done.
Significant correlations between maternal and foetal parameters were seen. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the number, size or density and beta cell counts of the pancreas among foetal pancreas of mothers with BMI <18.5 and >18.5 kg/m².
INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that nutritional status of the mother may not have profound influence on the morphology of beta cells of foetal pancreas in second trimester of pregnancy. Further studies need to be done to confirm these findings.
众所周知，母亲在怀孕期间营养不良和高血糖，以及胎儿营养不良会影响胎儿内分泌胰腺的结构和功能发育，尤其是β细胞。本研究旨在观察营养不良和营养充足母亲的 16-20 周龄流产正常胎儿胰腺胰岛形态的变化。
在 24 个月的时间内，从六名营养不良母亲（BMI<18.5 kg/m²）和八名营养充足母亲（BMI>18.5 kg/m²）的医学终止妊娠中收集胎儿。对切片进行苏木精和伊红染色以及 Masson 三色染色，用于胰岛计数、面积、体积等形态计量估计，以及β细胞胰岛素存在的免疫组织化学分析。
观察到母亲和胎儿参数之间存在显著相关性。然而，BMI<18.5 和>18.5 kg/m² 的母亲的胎儿胰腺中，胰岛的数量、大小或密度以及β细胞计数没有统计学上的显著差异。
我们的发现表明，母亲的营养状况可能对妊娠中期胎儿胰腺β细胞的形态没有深远影响。需要进一步的研究来证实这些发现。
