Effect of maternal gestational diabetes on rat's offspring

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a state of glucose intolerance that is diagnosed during pregnancy. Maternal GDM increases the risk of some complications in children، which includes macrosomia and the risk of cardiovascular and renal disorders. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the outcomes of gestational diabetes on progenies in an experimental rat model. Female pregnant rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: intact control، sham، diabetics treated with streptozotocin (STZ، 50 mg/kg)، and gestational diabetics treated with hypertonic glucose (2g/kg) and medroxyprogesterone (3mg/kg) (GM). On postnatal day 1، the weights of several organs such as، kidney and heart، as well as body weight of progenies were measured. Furtheremore، some histological studies were performed on the heart and kidney tissues، and several parameters such as total heart volume، cardiac ventricle volume، wall thickness of aorta، renal cortical volume and total number of glomeruli in each kidney were determined. The average body weight of progenies in STZ group was significantly higher than control (P<0. 001)، sham (P<0. 05) and GM (P<0. 001) groups. The body weight of progenies in GM group was lower than sham group (P<0. 01). A significant decrease was observed in the kidney weight of progenies in GM group in comparison to sham (P<0. 05). Histological analysis on the tissues showed no significant difference between groups. Our findings suggest that the hyperglycemic pregnant rat model is a reliable model for gestational diabetes in human. In addition، induction of STZ diabetes or hyperglycemia in pregnant rats lead to some changes in body or organ weights of progenies، however، it does not induce structural changes in various tissues.