Intraarterial and intraportal in vivo catheterization of the regenerating rat liver. Effects upon body and liver weights and DNA synthesis

Hepatic artery administration of degradable starch microspheres. I. Effect on energy charge and incorporation of precursors into rat liver nucleic acids

The effects of hepatic artery administration of degradable starch microspheres on liver energy charge and nucleic acid anabolism were studied in rats. Liver energy charge was evaluated 20 and 60 min after the injection of degradable starch microspheres. As compared to controls the microspheres had no effect on liver energy charge. The incorporation of orotic acid, uracil, and thymidine into liver RNA or DNA was studied 1 h after hepatic artery injection of precursor alone or together with degradable starch microspheres. Orotic acid and uracil incorporation into RNA was studied in normal rats and the DNA incorporation of thymidine in animals with regenerating livers. Orotic acid and thymidine were given in trace amounts. Uracil was given in amounts corresponding to a therapeutic dose of 5-fluorouracil. The addition of microspheres had no effects on the incorporation of the nucleic acid precursors into RNA or DNA. Thus, in the normal liver degradable starch microspheres administered by the hepatic artery had no influence on liver energy charge or RNA anabolism in the liver. Also the microspheres had no negative effects on the DNA anabolism in proliferating liver cells.

Ten-year experience of insulin treatment in gestational diabetes

Between 1975-1984, 119 women with gestational diabetes (GDM) were treated with insulin in Uppsala, representing a mean yearly incidence of 4.5/1,000 pregnancies. Women with GDM were older and more obese than the general pregnant population. Insulin treatment was instituted during a 5-7 day stay in hospital. The mean total daily dose of insulin prepartum, when fasting blood glucose had been normalized, was 53 (SD +/- 25) units (34 +/- 15 units of rapid-acting and 20 +/- 11 units of medium-acting insulin), divided into two doses daily. Mean duration of treatment was 6.4 weeks. The perinatal mortality was 0.8%, compared with 7.4% in previous pregnancies in the same women. The perinatal morbidity was generally mild and included hypoglycaemia (10.9%), hyperbilirubinaemia requiring treatment (2.5%), shoulder dystocia (2.5%) and one case of mild respiratory distress syndrome. The rate of macrosomia was reduced in the present pregnancies compared with previous ones in the women with GDM, but not abolished completely, probably because of too short a duration of improved metabolic control. Spontaneous delivery was favoured and the rate of Caesarean section was 13.5%. Thus, treatment with high doses of insulin in an unselected group of women with GDM is feasible. Normal perinatal mortality, reduced macrosomia, and no gross perinatal morbidity was found in the infants. Though the extent to which insulin treatment per se contributed to the favourable outcome is difficult to assess, it is suggested that the case for a high level of ambition for metabolic normalization in GDM should be a subject of further study.