oxyntomodulin and Birth-Weight

Protein level in the maternal diet plays a crucial role in fetal programming during pregnancy. Low or high protein level increases the risk of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). The aim of this study was to investigate the structural and functional development of the small intestine in piglets from sows fed a control (C, 12.1% protein), a high protein (HP, 30% protein), or a low protein (LP, 6.5% protein) diet during pregnancy. Newborns were classified as IUGR (birth weight ≤1.18 kg) and non-IUGR (birth weight >1.18 kg). The piglets were euthanized on postnatal day (PD)1, PD28 and PD188. The LP diet in non-IUGR neonates resulted in decreased body weight on PD1. The LP and HP diets resulted in both decreased body weight and delayed catch-up growth in the IUGR piglets. The HP and LP-diets increased the length of villi on PD1 in non-IUGRs but not in IUGRs. At birth, the expressions of Ki67 and active caspase 3 in mid-jejunum epithelium of HP and LP non-IUGR neonates were significantly lower as compared to C non-IUGRs whilst in IUGRs the respective expressions were as high as in C non-IUGRs. The postnatal dynamics of brush border enzyme activities and vacuolated enterocytes disappearance showed significant drop in enterocyte maturation in IUGR as compared to non-IUGR neonates. In conclusion, both HP and LP diets led to retarded development of non-IUGR piglets. In IUGR piglets both HP and LP diets resulted in delayed catch-up growth, without adaptive changes in brush border digestive enzymes.

Topics: Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Apoptosis; Birth Weight; Body Weight; Caspase 3; Cholecystokinin; Cytokines; Diet; Dietary Proteins; Female; Fetal Development; Fetal Growth Retardation; Glucagon-Like Peptides; Inflammation; Intestinal Mucosa; Jejunum; Ki-67 Antigen; Male; Mitosis; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications; Random Allocation; RNA, Messenger; Sus scrofa

To study the role of enteroinsular hormones in fetal macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycemia in infants of diabetic mothers, we measured plasma concentrations of free and total immunoreactive insulin, C-peptide, pancreatic glucagon, enteroglucagon, and gastric inhibitory polypeptide at birth in 35 IDMs and 35 infants of normal mothers. Twenty fasting adults of normal weight were also studied. Sixteen IDMs were macrosomic at birth; 17 developed neonatal hypoglycemia over the first postnatal hours. The IDMs had ten times higher concentrations of free IRI than the normal infants in cord blood. Free IRI concentrations were related to the severity of maternal diabetes, with the infants of white class D to F mothers having the highest levels. The IDMs with macrosomia had a twofold increase in the concentrations of free IRI when compared with IDMs of normal weight. There was a significant correlation between the birth weight ratio and the concentrations of free IRI. The IDMs who developed neonatal hypoglycemia had considerably higher concentrations of free IRI than did normoglycemic IDMs. The decrease of blood glucose over the first postnatal hours correlated strongly with the free IRI concentrations in the cord blood. The IDMs had a threefold increase of the C-peptide concentrations over those in normal infants. Six IDMs had a molar ratio of C-peptide to free IRI of less than 1. Both the IDMs and normal infants had substantially higher concentrations of enteroglucagon and lower concentrations of GIP than did the fasting adults. Our data provide direct evidence that IDMs are markedly hyperinsulinemic at birth and that ambient hyperinsulinemia plays a crucial role in the development of fetal macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycemia. Moreover, the observed discrepancy in the relative increase of free IRI and C-peptide, combined with the low molar ratio of C-peptide to IRI, suggests a decreased metabolic clearance of insulin or transplacental passage of insulin from the maternal circulation in infants of mothers with insulin-treated diabetes.

Topics: Adult; Birth Weight; Blood Glucose; Female; Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide; Gastrointestinal Hormones; Glucagon; Glucagon-Like Peptides; Humans; Hypoglycemia; Infant, Newborn; Insulin; Insulin Antibodies; Male; Pancreatic Hormones; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Diabetics