On the 21st day of pregnancy the amount of fatty acids transferred from the mother to the fetuses was determined using the tracer technique and a mathematical model. The present study showed that 0.19 μmol fatty acids/min pass into the fetuses from the maternal circulation. The amount of fatty acids required for the growth and development of the rat fetuses amounts to 0.25 μmol fatty acids/min. From these data one can conclude that the maternal circulation is an even more important source of fetal fatty acids than the fatty acid synthesis in fetal tissue.
The rat fetus (day 21 of pregnancy) covers its fatty acid (FA) demands at equal amounts both by maternal-fetal FA transfer and fetal FA synthesis. At the end of the first trimester the human fetal FA synthesis is too small to cover the fetal FA requirements. Therefore, the transfer of FA from the mother to the fetus seems to be the predominant source of fetal FA. The FA oxidation is greater than the FA synthesis in human and rat placenta as well as in the human fetus at the end of the ñrst trimester, whereas the rat fetus (day 21 of pregnancy) oxidizes and synthesizes FA at equal amounts.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.