Eexercise during pregnancy and maternal and fetal plasma
corticosterone and androstenedione in rats.
Carlberg, Karen A., Barbara L. Alvin, Andrea R. Gwosdow, Karen A.
Carlberg.
Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
99004, Department of Mathematics, Eastern Washington University,
Cheney, WA 99004, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General
Hospital, Endocrine Unit, Boston, MA 02114
APStracts 3:0145E, 1996.
Adrenocortical glucocorticoid and androgen secretion is stimulated by
exercise. Excesses of these hormones in fetuses can cause
abnormalities in development. We measured maternal and fetal plasma
corticosterone and androstenedione concentrations in Sprague-Dawley
rats immediately after maternal exercise in exercise-trained mothers
and at rest in sedentary mothers. In order to do this, we developed a
technique for fetal blood sampling and assessed its effect on
maternal and fetal plasma corticosterone concentrations. Under
halothane anesthesia, maternal blood was collected by cardiac
puncture and fetal blood was collected from carotid and jugular
vessels. Corticosterone was not affected by the blood collection
procedure. Corticosterone was significantly higher in exercised
mothers and their fetuses after 30 minutes of running than in
sedentary mothers and their fetuses at rest. Androstenedione was
significantly higher in exercised mothers after 30 minutes of running
than in sedentary mothers at rest, but fetal androstenedione was not
different between groups. We conclude that this maternal exercise
protocol elevates plasma corticosterone but not androstenedione
concentrations in fetal rats.
Received 12 December 1995; accepted in final form 28 June 1996.
APS Manuscript Number E581-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 25 July 1996