Blood Chemistry and Tissue Glycogen in Post-Term Guernsey Fetuses with Adenohypophyseal Aplasia

Abstract

The mean concentration of total reducing substances in the blood of post-term Guernsey fetuses which exhibited adenohypophyseal aplasia and the somatic development of 7 1/2 month fetuses was 50 mg%; 2 animals of the same developmental age had a mean TRS of 159 mg%; a control term fetuses had 127. There was an inverse relationship between the blood sugar concentration and duration of pregnancy. The post-term fetuses were hypoxic. The range of % O2 saturation of carotid blood was 6.6 to 28.0. The mean lactate/pyruvate ratio was 35.3 vs. 20.9 for the control animals. The glycogen content of the placenta from abnormal gestations was within the normal range. The glycogen in liver and heart of 3 post-term fetuses was not depleted despite the lack of the pituitary gland and the hypoxic state. In one severely hypoxic fetus the tissue glycogen stores were nearly depleted.