Effect of glucose infusion on the maternal and fetal acid-base equilibrium during labor.

The effect of hypertonic glucose infusion on the maternal and fetal acid-base equilibrium was studied in 20 clinically normal parturients and their concepts. Samples of maternal peripheral venous blood and fetal capillary blood were collected before and after intravenous infusion of 25 g of glucose into the mother at 15-minute intervals. No significant alterations in the parameters of the maternal acid-base equilibrium were observed. On the fetal ide, a significant decrease in pO2 at intervals of 30, 45 and 60 minutes after glucose infusion (fig. 1), and an increase of total CO2 after 60 minutes (fig. 2) were observed. These findings did not permit us to state that glucose infusion may be responsible for the alterations found, since it is known that as labor progresses, PO2 tends to decrease while total CO2 tends to increase. On the other hand, an increase in glycemic levels is known to stimulate the rate of glucose consumption at the expense of its aerobic metabolism, by reducing the oxygen level and increasing CO2, the final products of this glucolytic pathway.