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Acetate metabolism in the isolated sheep foetus
Author(s) -
Alexander D. Pauline,
Britton H. G.,
Nixon D. A.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.1967.sp008209
Subject(s) - ketone bodies , in utero , fetus , perfusion , metabolism , chemistry , medicine , endocrinology , fatty acid , biochemistry , biology , pregnancy , genetics
1. Sheep foetuses over the age range 105‐142 days and maintained on an extracorporeal circuit removed exogenous acetate at 2·0‐4·9 mg/kg.min. 2. Urinary loss of acetate was less than 12·5% of the administered amount. 3. The rate of acetate removal appeared to be unaffected by the addition of glucose to the circuit. The removal of glucose also seemed to be unaffected by the presence of acetate. 4. A decline in the plasma concentration of free fatty acids and ketone bodies was also observed during the perfusion. 5. It is concluded that under these conditions acetate may have accounted for about one half of the oxygen consumption. The contribution of free fatty acids and ketone bodies must have been small. The relevance of these findings to the nutrition of the foetus in utero is discussed.