THE ENERGY METABOLISM OF MOTHER AND CHILD JUST BEFORE AND JUST AFTER BIRTH

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The first attempt to estimate the energy production of the mammalian fetus was that of Pflüger¹ forty-two years ago. Pflüger expressed the opinion, largely on a priori grounds, that the gaseous exchange of the fetus as compared with that of the mother must be insignificant in amount. This idea was apparently supported by the work of Cohnstein and Zuntz² on the embryo sheep, but was strongly contested by Wiener³ and others, and within the past ten years has been refuted definitely.⁴ It is mainly to the physiological institutes of Copenhagen and Budapest headed by Bohr and Tangl, respectively, that we are indebted for the newer conception that the gaseous exchange, and therefore the energy production, of the animal embryo is greater per unit of weight than that of the adult organism. Rubner,⁵ however, has drawn attention to the fact that the mammalian embryo