Abstract
Pulmonary glycogen is thought to provide carbohydrate precursors for the synthesis of surface active phospholipids. Since the infant of the diabetic pregnancy (IDP) has delayed pulmonary maturation, we studied the developmental profile of lung glycogen in rat IDP from day 16 to term (day 22). Diabetes was induced by injection of 40 mg/kg of streptozotocin. Controls and IDPs had equal lung glycogen concentrations between day 16-20; however, the normal pattern of glycogen breakdown during the final 2 days of gestation was blunted in the IDPs.
Glycogen synthetase levels were similar in IDPs and controls. Glycogen phosphorylase (total and active fractions) in the IDPs did not differ from controls. However, the ratio of active/total phosphorylase in the last 3 days of gestation, the time of rapid glycogen breakdown, was significantly lower in the IDPs (.17 ± .02 vs. .24 ± .01, p <.005).
Preliminary analysis of lung phospholipids in the IDPs indicate a maturational delay by days 21-22, but not for day 20. The increased lung glycogen stores and the decreased lung phospholipid levels late in pregnancy suggest that substrate unavailability may be related to the delay in lung maturation in IDPs.
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Gewolb, I., Barrett, C., Greenberg, J. et al. 1125 DELAY IN DEGRADATION OF PULMONARY GLYCOGEN IN FETUSES OF STREPTOZOTOCIN-DIABETIC RATS. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 630 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-01151
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-01151