Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Instrumentation of Near-term Fetal Sheep for Multivariate Chronic Non-anesthetized Recordings
Published on: October 25, 2015
Renal and metabolic effects of glucagon in the fetus
1School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of NSW, Kensington, Australia.
Abstract:
The effects of pharmacological doses of glucagon (0.5 micrograms/kg/min) were studied in 8 chronically-catheterised fetal sheep. These doses of glucagon raised fetal blood glucose, and caused a small fall in fetal arterial PO2 (P less than 0.05). Arterial PCO2 rose (P less than 0.05) and pH fell (P less than 0.05) while plasma osmolality increased (P less than 0.01). There were no effects of glucagon on fetal renal function but in the fetus, like the adult, i.v. glucagon caused increases in heart rate (P less than 0.01) which were not associated with changes in arterial pressure.
Related Concept Videos
Glucose Transporters
Facilitated diffusion-glucose transporters (GLUTs) are encoded by the solute-linked carrier (SLC) family 2, subfamily A gene family, or SLC2A. The 14 GLUT protein members are distributed into three classes:
Teratogenicity
Hormones Regulating Blood Glucose
In addition to accelerating glucose uptake and utilization, insulin has...
Inborn Errors of Metabolism
Glucagon-like Receptor Agonists
GLP-1, when administered in high doses intravenously, triggers insulin secretion, inhibits glucagon release, slows gastric emptying, reduces food intake, and restores normal insulin secretion. However, its rapid inactivation by the...
Hypoglycemia and Glucagon

