Glucose, growth hormone, somatomedin, cortisol and ACTH changes in the plasma of unanaesthetised pig foetuses following intravenous insulin administration in utero.

Insulin tolerance tests were carried out in chronically catheterised foetal pigs. The experiment was carried out 7 days after catheterisation. The foetuses were, therefore, considered to be free from the effects of anaesthetics and stress. Under these conditions growth hormone levels were high compared with post-natal growth hormone levels but, under the favourable conditions in this study, both growth hormone and ACTH levels were lower than those found in anaesthetised or stressed foetuses. By contrast, cortisol levels were somewhat higher than those mentioned in previous reports. Somatomedin activity measured by post-natal cartilage bioassay was low. Following iv insulin administration there was a marked depression in plasma glucose (P less than 0.01), an elevation in growth hormone (P less than 0.05) and an increase in ACTH (P less than 0.01). Levels of cortisol and somatomedins did not change significantly. From these data it is concluded that insulin is an hypoglycaemic factor in the foetal pig and that, for the most part, the foetal pig pituitary responds to an insulin challenge in a similar way to the post-natal pig.