Maternal Diabetes: Consequences for the Offspring An Experimental Model in the Rat

The physiological changes of pregnancy tend to reset glucose homeostasis in the direction of diabetes. About 2-3% of all pregnant women develop abnormal glucose tolerance in pregnancy. Pregnancy complicated by diabetes leads to increased perinatal mortality and morbidity. Functional and morphological changes are present at cellular and tissue level. Furthermore, there are implications for the long-term effects of maternal diabetes on the offspring. Progress in understanding the fetal consequences in diabetic pregnancy and its long-term effects has been made possible by the use of rats in experimental models. Hyperglycemia during pregnancy (first generation), induced by streptozotocin (1,2) or during a glucose infusion (3-6), has a profound influence on fetal development and metabolism, and disturbances in glucose handling persist into the second and third generation offspring of these rats.