Maternal diabetes affects rat placental morphology and pregnancy

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a worldwide public health problem and is increasing because of the high prevalence of obesity and sedentarism. Diabetes during pregnancy may be divided into clinical diabetes (in cases previously diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes) and gestational diabetes (GD) [1]. In the Brazilian health public system, 7.6 % of pregnant women older than 20 years are diabetic [2]. Results from human and rodent diabetic experimental models have suggested that the placenta is a compromised target, which largely suffers the impact of maternal diabetes. This causes problems in maternal and fetal exchange, which increases abnormal fetal development and perinatal morbidity rates. Stereology is a well-established method for generating absolute three-dimensional quantities, such as volume, surface area, and length of complex tissues from twodimensional histological sections [3]. Stereological studies on human and animal pregnancies have shown that fetal growth is accompanied by changes in functional morphology of the placenta [4, 5]. No stereological studies have been conducted on the placenta of alloxan diabetic rats. This would be a useful tool for studying placental development in an animal model for diabetes and may provide valuable information regarding the physiopathology of maternal diabetes in humans. In view of the importance of diabetes during pregnancy for maternal and neonatal health, the objective of the present study was to assess placental and fetal weight, and placental morphological changes in diabetic female rats using histological and stereological techniques.