The Role of the Adrenal Medulla in the Hypoglycemia of Foetal Malnutrition

Abstract

A simultaneous defect in hypoglycemic responsiveness and failure to increase urinary adrenalin [epinephrine] excretion was demonstrated in fetally malnourished infants. The defect may represent both a contributory cause of, as well as a result of, the hypoglycemia. Follow up studies on the persistence and/or disappearance of the defect will be necessary to clarify the relationship between this neontal hypoglycemia and the so-called "idiopathic" hypoglycemia seen in the older infant and child.