Congenital malformations in the offspring of diabetic mothers

The offspring of diabetic mothers have a 10 times higher frequency of conge nital malformations and 5 times higher frequency of spontaneous abortions. Since the discovery of insulin, the prognosis of pregnancies has improved, both for the mother and the offspring. However, the prevalence of congenita l malformations at birth has not decreased significantly. The embriological process that leads to anomalies in the offspring of diabetic mothers proba bly, occurs between 6 and 8 weeks of gestation. According to animal experim ents, hyperglycemia, ketones and free radicals may be involved in the genes is of malformations, but different strains of rats respond differently to t hese potential teratogenic agents. Possibly, a higher genetic susceptibilit y towards congenital malformations in the offspring of diabetic Therefore, although the intimate mechanism producing malformations in in these women i s not known, several strategies to decrease the prevalence of malformations in these women, such as the use of antioxidants, are being tested.