Home
You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
See if you qualify for our free healthcare professional magazines. Click here to start your application for Pre-Diabetes Health, Diabetes Health Pharmacist and Diabetes Health Professional.
Latest Pregnancy Articles
Popular Pregnancy Articles
Highly Recommended Pregnancy Articles
Email to a Friend
Send a link to this page to your friends and colleagues.
High Sugar Levels Can Cause Birth Defects: Joslin Study Tells How
Glut2 illustration courtesy http://www.medbio.info/
Women with diabetes are up to five times more likely than the general population to have a baby with birth defects, especially of the heart and spinal cord, organs that form within the first few weeks of pregnancy.
In a mouse study published in the March 2007 Diabetologia, Joslin investigator Dr. Loeken and colleagues report that that a protein called glucose transporter 2 (Glut2) carries high amounts of glucose to the embryo’s cells when the mother’s blood glucose concentrations are high. This makes the embryo very susceptible to the malformations that high glucose levels cause.
Glut2 works efficiently only when glucose levels are high. In a normal pregnancy, the glucose in the mother’s blood that circulates to the uterus is never high enough to activate Glut2, so the embryo is not exposed to high concentrations of glucose. But glucose concentrations can be very high during a diabetic pregnancy. This activates Glut2, which carries these glucose levels to the embryo cells. The cells then act like a sponge, absorbing glucose at a much higher rate than normal.
Recent research has shown that Glut2 is also a transporter for glucosamine, an amino sugar that serves important functions in the synthesis of proteins. Since glucosamine is synthesized in the liver, which the early embryo lacks, it must get it from the mother’s circulation. Thus, Glut2 could required by the embryo for glucosamine transport, with the unfortunate side effect it has on glucose.
Sources: Diabetologia
Medical News Today
Categories: Blood Glucose, Childbirth, Diabetes, Diabetes, Pregnancy, Type 1 Issues
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
-
Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
Comments
Add your comments about this article below. You can add comments as a registered user or anonymously. If you choose to post anonymously your comments will be sent to our moderator for approval before they appear on this page. If you choose to post as a registered user your comments will appear instantly.
When voicing your views via the comment feature, please respect the Diabetes Health community by refraining from comments that could be considered offensive to other people. Diabetes Health reserves the right to remove comments when necessary to maintain the cordial voice of the diabetes community.
For your privacy and protection, we ask that you do not include personal details such as address or telephone number in any comments posted.
Don't have your Diabetes Health Username? Register now and add your comments to all our content.
Register...
Register your Diabetes Health Username here.
Have Your Say...