Alcohol blunts pregnancy-mediated insulin resistance and reduces fetal brain glucose despite elevated fetal gluconeogenesis, and these changes associate with fetal weight outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) impairs fetal growth and neurodevelopment. Although alcohol is well known to alter metabolism, its impact on these processes during pregnancy is largely unexplored. Here, we investigate how alcohol affects maternal-fetal glucose metabolism using our established mouse binge model of PAE. In the dam, alcohol reduces the hepatic abundance of glucose and glycolytic intermediates, and the gluconeogenic enzymes glucose-6-phosphtase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Fasting blood glucose is also reduced. In a healthy pregnancy, elevated maternal gluconeogenesis and insulin resistance ensures glucose availability for the fetus. Glucose and insulin tolerance tests reveal that alcohol impairs the dam's ability to acquire insulin resistance. Alcohol-exposed dams h

SUBMITTER: Saini N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11167647 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature