Importance of maternal diabetes on the chronological deregulation of the intrauterine development: An experimental study in rat

We investigated whether maternal diabetes induced in rats using streptozotocin (stz) on day 5 of pregnancy affects the intrauterine developmental timeline. a total of 30 pregnant sprague-dawley diabetic rats (drs) and 20 control rats (crs) were used to obtain 21-day fetuses (f21) and newborn (nb) pups. gestational age,weight,and body size were recorded as were the maxillofacial morphometry and morphohistological characteristics of the limbs. in drs,pregnancy continued for ∼1.7 days,and delivery occurred 23 days postcoitus (dpc). in this group,the number of pups was lower,and 13% had maxillofacial defects. f21 in the dr group had lower weights and were smaller; moreover,the morphological characteristics of the maxillofacial structures,derived from the neural crest,were discordant with their chronological gestational age,resembling 18- to 19-day-old fetuses. these deficiencies were counterbalanced in nb pups. we conclude that hyperglycemia,which results from maternal diabetes and precedes embryo implantation,deregulates the intrauterine developmental timeline,restricts embryo-fetal growth,and primarily delays the remodeling and maturation of the structures derived from neural crest cells. © 2015 marcela salazar garcía et al.