Effect of Intravenous Glucose on Concentration of Insulin in Maternal and Umbilical-cord Plasma.

It has been suggested that the foetus of a diabetic mother is subjected to intermittent hyperglycaemia and that this is followed by pancreatic islet hyperplasia, increased insulin secretion, and greater deposition of fat (Osler, 1960). Measurements of plasma-insulin-like activity in the newborn in response to a glucose load have shown that the baby of a diabetic mother has a greater rise of insulin-like activity in the plasma than the baby of a normal mother (Baird and Farquhar, 1962). Similar investigations have not been made on the foetus. In order to investigate what effects varying the concentration of glucose in the maternal blood might have upon the bloodsugar and plasma-insulin concentration of the foetus, intravenous glucose was administered to mothers in labour. This paper reports maternal and umbilical-cord blood-sugar and plasma-insulin concentrations (a) in normal mothers and (b) in mothers who received glucose infusions or intravenous glucose injections during labour.