[Maternal hyperglycemia and fetal development in the rat: effects of a continuous glucose perfusion in the rat at the end of gestation].

Continuous glucose infusion was used to induce mild hyperglycemia in unrestrained pregnant rats during the last three days of pregnancy. Control rats were infused with distilled water. Compared with the controls, fetuses from glucose-infused rats showed higher plasma glucose levels, increased plasma insulin and lower plasma glucagon concentrations. Pregnancy prolonged until day 23.5 resulted in a sharp decrease in plasma insulin concentrations and a dramatic increase in plasma glucagon concentrations. In 23.5-day old fetuses from both groups, plasma insulin concentration rose when phentolamine was injected but not when propanolol was injected. Plasma glucagon concentration in 23.5-day old fetuses from glucose-infused rats dropped with propanolol injection. In fetuses from control rats, liver phosphoenolpyruvate activity increased markedly and liver glycogen stores decreased sharply. In fetuses from glucose-infused rats, liver phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity rose and glycogen content decreased, but to a lesser degree. Moreover, in postmature fetuses from glucose-infused rats, elevated plasma glucose and insulin concentrations were related to increased body weight and total carcass fat. Concurrently, the rate of lipogenesis in the carcass of these fetuses (estimated from the incorporation of 3H from 3H2O into fatty acids) was significantly increased.