Browsing by Author "Villarroya, Francesc"

Level6 of circulating glucose, glycerol, end FFA concentrations were determined before end efter hepatectomy-nephrectomy 1n 20 dey pregnant rats end virgin controls. After evisceration, blood glucose levels decreased 1n e pa rel lel ,..ay in both g!"oups whereas in pregnant rats, th<= blood glycercl level increased less end plasma-FFA rose mo~e than in controls. Maternal evisceration caused reduced blood glucose end enhanced glycerol levels in fetuses, whereas fetal plasma-FFA levels v-=re unmodified. Results indicate that extrahepatic glucose utilization re~ained stable in the late pregnar,t rat. Fetal levels of circulating glycercl, but not of FFA, appeared directly dependent on maternal levels. It is propcsed that under normal conditions, glycerol availability to the fetus is lo~, due to its preferential utilization by maternal gluconeogenic organs which reduced the amount available for possible placental transfer,

-I. Plasma ethanol concentration 3 hr after its oral administration (3 g/kg body wt) did not differ in 20 day pregnant rats with virgin controls, and in both groups values were higher when studied after 24 hr fasted than when fed. 2. In fed animals, blood glucose and liver glycogen concentrations were lower in pregnant than in virgin rats, whereas ethanol intake in both groups enhanced blood glucose levels, it reduced liver glycogen content only in virgins. In fetuses, maternal ethanol intake enhanced blood glucose levels. 3. In fasted animals, ethanol intake decreased blood glucose levels in pregnant and virgin animals but did not affect these levels in fetuses. 4. Ethanol intake enhanced /J-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate ratio similarly in blood of pregnant and virgin rats when either fed or fasted, and it produced the same change in fetuses from fasted mothers. 5. Results indicate that the metabolic response to acute ethanol does not differ between pregnant and non-pregnant animals, and it is proposed that fetuses passively follow the metabolic changes occurring in their mothers after receiving ethanol.