Effect of Intravenous Glucose, Leucine and Arginine on Concentration of Insulin in Maternal and Umbilical Cord Serum

Abstract

Glucose rapidly crosses the placenta in the presence of a concentration gradient between mother and fetus and the fetal plasma glucose may be controlled indirectly via the maternal endocrine system. Although insulin is present in the fetal pancreas as early as the 12th gestational week, little information is available about the secretion of insulin by the fetal pancreas or its physiological effect (1). However, it is widely accepted that glucose is an important stimulus of B-cells growth and function. In fact the hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the endocrine pancreas and the high levels of insulin in the cord blood of a fetus born to a diabetic mother are attributed to maternal and consequent fetal hyperglycemia (2).