Secreted glycoproteins serve a variety of functions related to cell-cell communication in developmental systems. We cloned LGL1, a novel glucocorticoid-inducible gene in foetal lung, and described its temporal and spatial localization in the rat. Disruption of foetal mesenchyme-specific LGL1 expression using antisense oligodeoxynucleotides, which was associated with a 50% decrease in lgl1 prote...

Transferrin is an important growth-promoting serum glycoprotein synthesized chiefly in the liver in adults. The transferrin found in the mouse foetus is thought to be wholly a product of the foetus itself and its synthesis starts at lest as early as the 7th day of gestation. The major sites of synthesis in mouse foetuses are the visceral yolk sac (VYS) and liver (Adamson, 1982). We now report t...

The effects of 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), bombesin and insulin on 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase (PFK-2) activity, on fructose 2,6-bisphosphate concentration and on the phosphorylation state of PFK-2 were investigated in primary cultures of hepatocytes from foetal and adult rats. Bombesin stimulated PFK-2 activity and increased hexose phosphate (glucose 6-phosphate and fructose 6-p...

JUST as the first detailed description of the foetal heart sounds (Le Jumeau de Kergaradec, 1822) eventually led to the view that foetal bradycardia might indicate danger to the foetus (Von Winckel, 1903) and to the present routine practice of periodic auscultation during labour, so the first reported foetal electrocardiogram (Cremer, 1906) has been followed by efforts to develop automatic meth...

I. Radioactive calcium has been used to study the placental transfer of Ca in ewes at three stages of gestation. 2. At each stage virtually all the radioactive Ca injected into a foetus was still present 5-6 h later and little or none was found in the mother or in a twin foetus if present. 3. I t was concluded that there is neither exchange of Ca between foetal and maternal pools nor transfer f...

The retention of foetal membranes (RFM) is supposed to be related to oxidative stress which can be evaluated through indirect and direct parameters, among others, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and lipid peroxidation intensity (LPI). Placental samples (maternal and foetal parts) were collected from Holstein-Friesian healthy cows immediately after caesarean section (n = 13, group A) at time or...

The foetal pH values of eighty-eight cases delivered within 30 min after foetal blood sampling were correlated with the 1-min Apgar score. With a pH of 7.20 or above the error of prediction was 1'3%o. The error in cases with pH below 7.20 was 54'5/. Significantly higher pH and lower A base deficit were present in the low foetal pH group in vigorous, as opposed to depressed infants, suggesting t...

Vascularisation of an organ is an index of its metabolic activity. The suprarenal glands are of crucial importance in the development of pregnancy. No data were found by the authors to describe the volume of the human foetal suprarenal arteries throughout pregnancy. The study was designed to form a database of human foetal suprarenal arterial volume in relation to foetal age and sex. Digital im...

Elephants have the longest pregnancy of all mammals, with an average gestation of around 660 days, so their embryonic and foetal development have always been of special interest. Hitherto, it has only been possible to estimate foetal ages from theoretical calculations based on foetal mass. The recent development of sophisticated ultrasound procedures for elephants has now made it possible to mo...

OBJECTIVE To review the maternal and neonatal outcomes, and management of single foetal death in twin pregnancies. DATA SOURCES Medline literature search (1950 to 1999) and hospital audit of single antepartum foetal deaths in twin pregnancy from 1993 through 1997. DATA SELECTION Key words for literature search: twin pregnancy/pregnancies; single fetal death/demise. DATA EXTRACTION Data we...