Hyperglycaemia induced by glucose infusion in the unrestrained pregnant rat during the last three days of gestation: metabolic and hormonal changes in the mother and the fetuses.

Continuous glucose infusion was used to induced mild hyperglycaemia in unrestrained pregnant rats during the last three days of pregnancy. Control pregnant rats were infused with distilled water. Fetuses were studied after normal or prolonged pregnancy. Fetuses from glucose-infused rats, compared with controls, showed higher plasma glucose levels, increased plasma insulin and lower plasma glucagon concentrations. Pregnancy prolonged until day 23.5 resulted in a rise in the glucagon/insulin ratio from 6.5 to 67 in fetuses from control rats and from 1.3 to 13 in fetuses from glucose-infused rats. Concurrently in fetuses from control rats, liver phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 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 extent. These results show that both the A and B cells of the rat fetal pancreas are sensitive to chronic glucose stimulation.