Impact of experimental diabetes and chronic hypoxia on rat fetal body weight

The aim of the study is to determine the impact of the experimental diabetes and the chronic hypoxia on pregnancy development and rat fetal body weight.

The experiment was performed on female Wistar rats. Animals were divided into the experimen-tal groups. I - Controls, II - Untreated diabetes, III - Insulin-treated diabetes, IV - No diabetes with chronic hypoxia, V - Untreated diabetes and chronic hypoxia, VI - Insulin- treated diabetes and chronic hypoxia. Diabetes was induced in groups II, III, V and VI with intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin (STZ) at a dose of 40 mg/kg. Chronic hypoxia was induced by placing dams (groups IV, V and VI) in conditions of 10.5% oxygen and 89.5%. Insulin was administered subcutaneously at the dose of 9 IU/kg. Starting from the 6th day after STZ injection and chronic hypoxia conditions animals were caged together for 12 hours for 3 consecutive days to ensure fertilization. On day 21 of gestation the animals were decapitated, the fetuses were removed and weighted.

Mean fetal body weight in separate groups were: I - 5.38 g, II - 6.04g, III - 5.32g, IV- 5.56 g, V - 3.45 g, VI - 6.23 g.

Pre-existing type 1 diabetes does not affect fetal body weight compared to healthy newborn control rats. Pro-longed hypoxia does not impact on fetal body weight. Chronic hypoxia during pregnancy complicated with untreated type 1 diabetes mellitus leads to significant reduction of fetal body weight. Insulin treatment reversed the detrimental effect of chronic hypoxia on fetal development.