Effect of Gestational Hyperglycemia on Insulin Secretion in Vivo and in Vitro by Fetal Rat Pancreas

The effects of gestational hyperglycemia on B-cell function were studied in near-term fetuses from unrestrained pregnant rats made slightly or highly hyperglycemic using continuous glucose infusion during the last week of pregnancy. Pancreatic and plasma insulin and insulin secretion in vitro were studied in the fetuses. Compared with controls, slightly hyperglycemic fetuses showed increased pancreatic and plasma insulin concentrations and similar insulin release in response to glucose in vitro. In highly hyperglycemic fetuses, pancreatic and plasma insulin concentrations were unchanged compared with controls, and insulin release in vitro was insensitive to glucose and to the mixture glucose plus theophylline. These results confirm that glucose is able to stimulate insulin secretion in normal or slightly hyperglycemic fetuses and suggest that severe hyperglycemia per se, without association of other metabolic disorders or toxic injuries, profoundly alters the stimulus-secretion coupling of the fetal rat B-cell.