The metabolism of glucose by rat uterus tissue in early pregnancy.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The oxygen uptake, lactic acid production and differential production of CO2 from [1-14C] glucose and [6-14C] glucose were examined in rat uterine tissue in vitro during the first nine days of pregnancy. After implantation had occurred the uterine areas containing the implanted blastocysts were studied separately from the remaining areas. It was found that the oxygen consumption of the tissues remained reasonably constant until day 7 of pregnancy and thereafter declined markedly in tissues from implanted areas and non implanted areas when expressed in terms of dry wt. When calculated on a DNA basis, the oxygen consumption of the implanted tissue still showed a marked decline by day 9 of pregnancy, whereas that of the non implanted tissue increased. Lactic acid production increased strongly in the implanted tissue but showed little change in the non implanted areas. The C1/C6 ratio increased significantly on day 3 of pregnancy and was consistantly and significantly higher in the implanted tissue in the non implanted tissue. The results are discussed in terms of the energy requirement for implantation.