PEDIATRICS Vol. 36 No. 6 December 1965, pp. 843-855
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chen, C. H.
Right arrow Articles by Schwartz, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chen, C. H.
Right arrow Articles by Schwartz, R.

THE PLASMA FREE FATTY ACID COMPOSITION AND BLOOD GLUCOSE OF NORMAL AND DIABETIC PREGNANT WOMEN AND OF THEIR NEWBORNS

Chiung H. Chen M.D.1, Peter A. J. Adam M.D.1, Donald E. Laskowski Ph.D.1, Michael L. McCann M.D.1, and Robert Schwartz M.D.1

1 Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, Western Reserve University School of Medicine at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital

The blood glucose and plasma FFA content and composition of the newborns of normal women, gestational diabetics, and insulin-dependent diabetics were analyzed. Normal maternal FFA levels were twice the fetal values; by 2 hours of age FFA increased fourfold over initial values in normal infants, while infants of gestational diabetics had a threefold rise, and those of insulin dependent diabetics only twofold. Blood sugar at the same time decreased, and there was an inverse relationship between blood glucose in the normal infants and FFA. This relationship is altered in the infant of the diabetic mother.

Gas chromatography of plasma indicated a higher ratio of unsaturated to saturated FFA in mothers compared to infants. No pattern differences were noted between the normal and diabetic mothers, except that the latter had higher oleic acid. In the initial 2 hours of life, the patterns changed, although no differences were noted between infants of diabetic mothers and normals.

The observations suggest: (1) The metabolic interrelationships of glucose and FFA in the normal infant are different from those in the infant of the diabetic mother. The latter infant has a state of physiological hyperinsulinism. (2) Plasma FFA in the fetus is derived from both fetal fat synthesis as well as placental transfer. (3) The infant of the diabetic mother does not differ from the normal as regards FFA composition.

Submitted on April 5, 1965
Accepted on July 15, 1965




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CLIN PEDIATRHome page
D. N. Sharlin and P. Koblenzer
Necrosis of Subcutaneous Fat with Hypercalcemia: A Puzzling and Multifaceted Disease
Clinical Pediatrics, May 1, 1970; 9(5): 290 - 294.
[PDF]