» Articles » PMID: 5355339

Carbohydrate Metabolism in Pregnancy. VI. Plasma Fuels, Insulin, Liver Composition, Gluconeogenesis, and Nitrogen Metabolism During Late Gestation in the Fed and Fasted Rat

Overview
Journal J Clin Invest
Specialty General Medicine
Date 1969 Dec 1
PMID 5355339
Citations 30
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

The effects of late pregnancy on metabolic fuels, liver composition, gluconeogenesis, and nitrogen metabolism have been examined in fed and fasted rats. Plasma free fatty acid (FFA) and immunoreactive insulin (IRI) are greater and glucose and ketones are lower in fed 19-day pregnant than they are in agematched virgin rats. A 48 hr fast elicits greater increases in FFA and ketones and more profound reductions in glucose in the pregnant rats and obliterates the differences in IRI. Fetal weight is not modified by such fasting but maternal weight losses exceed that of the nongravid rats. Livers from rats 19 days pregnant contain more and larger hepatocytes. Per mumole hepatic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-phosphorus, water and protein are more abundant, whereas glycogen is unaffected. Livers from fed pregnant rats contain more lipid phosphorus and less neutral lipid fatty acid. After a 48 hr fast, hepatic steatosis supervenes in gravid animals due to accumulated neutral fat. The contents of hepatic acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and citric acid are not different in fed pregnant and virgin rats but are greater in the pregnant rats after fasting. Formation of glucose-(14)C and glycogen-(14)C from administered pyruvate-(14)C are the same in fed pregnant and virgin rats, but greater in the pregnant ones after a 24 or 48 hr fast. Pregnancy does not affect creatinine excretion, and urinary urea is not different in fed pregnant, virgin, and postpartum animals. Contrariwise, more nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus are excreted by the pregnant animals during a 2 day fast. The increment in urinary nitrogen is due largely to urea on the 1st day, whereas heightened ammonia accounts for half the increase on the 2nd and correlates with the enhanced ketonuria. Muscle catabolism, gluconeogenesis, and diversion to fat are activated more rapidly and to a greater degree when food is withheld during late gestation in the rat. These catabolic propensities are restrained in the fed state. The capacity for "accelerated starvation" may confer survival benefit upon an intermittently eating mother in the presence of a continuously feeding fetus.

Citing Articles

The Role of Fatty Acid Signaling in Islet Beta-Cell Adaptation to Normal Pregnancy.

Kim J, Delghingaro-Augusto V, Chan J, Laybutt D, Proietto J, Nolan C Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022; 12:799081.

PMID: 35069446 PMC: 8766493. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.799081.


Influence of pregnancy and non-fasting conditions on the plasma metabolome in a rat prenatal toxicity study.

Ramirez-Hincapie S, Giri V, Keller J, Kamp H, Haake V, Richling E Arch Toxicol. 2021; 95(9):2941-2959.

PMID: 34327559 DOI: 10.1007/s00204-021-03105-0.


Diabetes Leads to Alterations in Normal Metabolic Transitions of Pregnancy as Revealed by Time-Course Metabolomics.

Walejko J, Chelliah A, Keller-Wood M, Wasserfall C, Atkinson M, Gregg A Metabolites. 2020; 10(9).

PMID: 32867274 PMC: 7570364. DOI: 10.3390/metabo10090350.


Implications of Lipids in Neonatal Body Weight and Fat Mass in Gestational Diabetic Mothers and Non-Diabetic Controls.

Herrera E, Ortega-Senovilla H Curr Diab Rep. 2018; 18(2):7.

PMID: 29399727 DOI: 10.1007/s11892-018-0978-4.


Effect of maternal ketoacidosis on the ovine fetus.

Gomez D, Kuthiala S, Liu H, Durosier D, Cao M, Burns P Can Vet J. 2015; 56(8):863-6.

PMID: 26246634 PMC: 4502857.


References
1.
Landau R, LUGIBIHL K . The effect of progesterone on the concentration of plasma amino acids in man. Metabolism. 1967; 16(12):1114-22. DOI: 10.1016/0026-0495(67)90057-1. View

2.
JOSIMOVICH J, Maclaren J . Presence in the human placenta and term serum of a highly lactogenic substance immunologically related to pituitary growth hormone. Endocrinology. 1962; 71:209-20. DOI: 10.1210/endo-71-2-209. View

3.
Campbell R, Innes I, KOSTERLITZ H . The role of hormonal and dietary factors in the formation of excess ribonucleic acid in the livers of pregnant rats. J Endocrinol. 1953; 9(1):52-67. DOI: 10.1677/joe.0.0090052. View

4.
HAGERMAN D . Metabolism of tissues from pregnant, diabetic rats in vitro. Endocrinology. 1962; 70:88-94. DOI: 10.1210/endo-70-1-88. View

5.
Beck P, Parker M, Daughaday W . Radioimmunologic measurement of human placental lactogen in plasma by a double antibody method during normal and diabetic pregnancies. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1965; 25(11):1457-62. DOI: 10.1210/jcem-25-11-1457. View