Diabetes, Vol 42, Issue 2 316-323, Copyright © 1993 by American Diabetes Association
A new model for the study of mild diabetes during pregnancy. Syngeneic islet-transplanted STZ-induced diabetic rats
EA Ryan, BW Tobin, J Tang and DT Finegood
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Diabetes during pregnancy carries short- and long-term consequences for the
offspring. Improved obstetrical and diabetic care has resulted in decreased
morbidity and mortality in the neonate of the diabetic mother. Mild
hyperglycemia is still found in both IDDM pregnant women and women with
GDM. The long-term consequences of exposure to mild hyperglycemia in utero
remain to be determined. In an effort to develop an appropriate animal
model of mild diabetes during pregnancy, we mated female STZ-induced
diabetic rats previously transplanted with specific numbers of islets of
Langerhans (2500, 1000, 700, or 500 islets). Diabetic and nondiabetic
sham-transplanted control groups also were studied. During pregnancy, the
plasma glucose levels in the diabetic rats and the group receiving 500
islets (26.5 +/- 1.1 and 10.0 +/- 0.8 mM, respectively) were significantly
greater than in control animals (5.4 +/- 0.5 mM, P < 0.0001). The mean
glucose levels in rats receiving 700 or 1000 transplanted islets (6.8 +/-
0.2 and 6.5 +/- 0.2 mM) also were significantly greater than in control
animals (P < 0.001). No difference was evident between control rats and
the group receiving 2500 islets (5.8 +/- 0.2 mM). No gross congenital
abnormalities were apparent in the offspring. The pup plasma glucose was
significantly greater in the offspring of dams receiving either none
(diabetic) or 500 islets (10.6 +/- 0.7 and 11.1 +/- 1.1 mM, respectively)
compared with the offspring of nondiabetic control dams (4.4 +/- 0.3 mM, P
< 0.0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)