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Journal of Medical Sciences

Year: 2006 | Volume: 6 | Issue: 4 | Page No.: 507-518
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Authors

A.G. Pillay

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Research Article

Effects of Maternal Diabetes on the Structure of the Lumbar Segments of the Spinal Cord in the Developing Fetus

A.G. Pillay
The present study is aimed at observing structural changes in the spinal cord of developing fetus of diabetic mouse mother. Diabetes was induced in 55 female mice (ICR strain) by two intra-peritoneal injections of streptozotocin. Those with blood glucose level ≥200 mg dL-1 were considered diabetic. Another 45 female mice served as controls without any diabetes induction. All these female mice were mated with normal healthy adult male mice. Pregnancy was terminated on Gestational Day (GD) 14, 16, 18 and 20 (day of delivery). Fetuses were fixed in 10% formaldehyde and serial sections were used for light microscopic study. Several abnormal changes were observed in the spinal cord in many fetuses born to diabetic mothers. The abnormal structural changes include asymmetry of the two-halves of the spinal cord, various types of structural deviations in the white matter, shrunken and eroded dorsal horns, imperfect growth and protrusion of parts of the spinal cord into the vertebrae, irregularity and dilatations of the central canal etc. These changes were not present in control samples. The findings in the present investigation implicated that the central nervous system is subjected to structural alterations in the developing fetuses when exposed to diabetic milieu. The structural changes observed are attributed to possible functional and physiological deficits. This confirms the neurobehavioral and habituation disturbances in the offspring of diabetic mothers. These results are supportive of the earlier clinical observations.
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