Transfer of maternal plasma free fatty acids into the rat fetus
Hummel, L.; Schirrmeister, W.; Zimmermann, T.
Acta Biologica et Medica Germanica 34(4): 603-605
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5318 PMID: 1189834 Document Number: 85911
Labelled palmitate was injected into a caudal vein of pregnant Wistar rats on day 21 of gestation and at intervals thereafter the young were removed. Foetal tissues contained 1.3 plus or minus 0.1% of the injected radioactivity 5 min after the injection and that value remained constant to 120 min, in accord with the observation that almost all radioactivity left maternal plasma in 5 min. Of foetal radioactivity 80% was in phospholipid, 19% in triglyceride and 1% in free fatty acid (FFA). The irreversible disposal rate of maternal plasma FFA had earlier been shown to be 7.2 mu mol/min 300 g bodyweight, from which it is calculated that 0.09 mu mol/min of FFA was transferred to a litter of 34 g. The rate of increase of foetal bodyweight at the end of gestation is 12 g/24 h for a litter of 34 g and the concentration of foetal FFA is 2.8 mmol/100 g foetal bodyweight. Hence the increase of total FFA is about 0.2 mu mol/min litter, which shows that at day 21 of gestation about half the total foetal FFA is derived from the maternal circulation, an important contribution.