METABOLIC ALTERATIONS IN NEURAL TISSUE OF RAT EMBRYOS EXPOSED TO BETA-HYDROXYBUTYRATE DURING ORGANOGENESIS

Hyperketonemia has been identified as an important factor in diabetic pregnancy affecting growth and development of the offspring. In order to assess the immediate metabolic alterations in embryos caused by exc ess ketone bodies, we studied rat embryonic neural tissue exposed to a high concentration of beta-hydroxybutyrate in vitro. beta-Hydroxybuty rate inhibited oxygen uptake of the neural tissue of day 9 and day 10 embryos by 12.8 % and 11.2 %, but did not affect that of day 11 and da y 12 tissue. In contrast, glucose utilization of the neural tissue of day 9 and day 10 embryos was not altered. However, a 30 % decrease in glucose utilization was observed in the neural tissue of day 11 and da y 12 embryos exposed to beta-hydroxybutyrate. Thus, beta-hydroxybutyra te induced different metabolic alterations in the embryonic neural tis sue during early and late organogenesis, which suggests different mode s of teratogenic action of ketone bodies in different parts of gestati on.