Embryotoxic effects of brief maternal insulin-hypoglycemia during organogenesis in the rat

To test whether maternal hypoglycemia can impair organogenesis, we induced brief glucopenia with insulin in conscious pregnant rats during either the headfold stage or the early neural tube closure stage of embryogenesis. At each time, 10 pairs of animals received identical insulin infusions for 1 h. Half the animals were maintained at euglycemia during the infusions, while the others were allowed to become hypoglycemic. Euglycemia was maintained or restored in all animals immediately after the insulin was stopped. Spontaneous activity was diminished during the hypoglycemia but consciousness was preserved. Embryos were removed from mothers and examined 2 d later. This examination revealed that embryos from the hypoglycemic mothers were growth-retarded and displayed a small but significant incidence of gross developmental anomalies compared with embryos from the insulin-infused euglycemic mothers. Thus, brief, mild maternal hypoglycemia during early organogenesis can disrupt normal embryo development in the rat. The effect is due to the hypoglycemia per se rather than to the insulin employed for its induction.