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Metabolic and endocrine responses of pregnant and lactating ewes to intravenous glucose or insulin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. M. Bassett
J. M. Bassett
Affiliation:
Ian Clunies Ross Animal Research Laboratory, CSIRO Division of Animal Production, P.O. Box 239, Blacktown, NSW, Australia, and Growth and Development Unit, University Field Laboratory, Wytham, Oxford, UK
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Summary

To investigate whether late pregnancy results in increased resistance to insulin action in ewes, a group of 18 crossbred ewes (six with twin foetuses) were given intravenous injections of glucose (0·25 g/kg) and insulin (0·25 U/kg) about 18days before full term and again during lactation, about 36 days after delivery. Before the injections, basal plasma concentrations of glucose, free fatty acids and growth hormone were lower during pregnancy than during lactation, but insulin concentrations were similar on the two occasions and cortisol concentrations were higher during pregnancy.

Rates of glucose removal and insulin secretory responses to the glucose injection were similar on the two occasions, both in ewes with single lambs and in those with twins. Insulin injection also resulted in similar decreases in glucose concentration on the two occasions in all ewes. Recovery from hypoglycaemia was somewhat delayed during pregnancy whencompared with lactation, but less so than in wether sheep given a similar injection of insulin. The plasma free fatty acid concentration decreased more slowly after glucose injection during pregnancy than in lactation. Responses of plasma cortisol concentration toinsulin-induced hypoglycaemia were similar on the 2 days, but plasma growth hormone concentration increased far more in lactating ewes after both injections.

The results did not indicate increased antagonism to insulin action in ewes during late pregnancy, but did show that changes in the counter-regulatory hormones after the disturbances to glucose homeostasis may differ markedly in the two situations and suggest that hyper-responsiveness of the system regulating growth hormone secretion contributes to the increased plasma growth hormone concentration observed in lactating animals.

Type
Review
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 113 , Issue 2 , October 1989 , pp. 173 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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