Endocrine Abstracts

The in utero environment is crucial for both the prenatal and long-term health of the offspring. The placenta is able to modify its structure/function in response to maternal growth and nutritional signals to actively regulate maternal-to-fetus nutrient transfer and consequently optimum fetal development. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in placental sensing of maternal nutrients. However, we postulate that nutrient flux through the hexosamine biosynthet...

Mutations in the leptin receptor gene (Lepr) occur spontaneously in humans and mice and are linked to early onset obesity and diabetes. Mice heterozygous for a signalling-deficient receptor (db/+) are widely used as a model of gestational diabetes that results in fetal macrosomia, but the contribution of the fetal genotype has yet to be evaluated. Eight week old wild type (wt) females (n=8) were mated to db/+ males and db/+ females (n=10) were mated to wt males i...

Pregnancy complicated by pre-existing or gestational diabetes is associated with increased risk of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. The most common complication, macrosomia, occurs during the third trimester of pregnancy as a result of abnormal placental growth and increased transfer of nutrients to the fetus. We have previously demonstrated using an explant model of human placenta, that statins have the potential to limit placental growth. In this study we tested t...