| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Submitted on August 2, 2004
Accepted on November 12, 2004
Academic Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (E.J.) Royal Free and University College London Medical School, London; Department of Pediatrics (F.C.B, C.T.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, USA; and Department of Anatomy (J.H.; G.J.B.), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
GRAHAM J BURTON, E-mail: gjb2{at}cam.ac.uk
Polyols are sugar alcohols formed by the reduction of aldoses and ketoses. Production is favored under conditions of low oxygenation, when it may provide an alternative means to production of lactate for regulating the oxidation-reduction balance of pyridine nucleotides. Polyols also act as important organic osmolytes, and precursors of cell membrane components. We measured free sugar and polyol concentrations in matched samples of maternal serum, intervillous fluid, coelomic fluid and amniotic fluid from normal human pregnancies at 5-12 weeks gestational age. The concentrations of fructose, inositol, sorbitol, erythritol, and ribitol were significantly higher in coelomic and amniotic fluids than in maternal serum, but the reverse was the case for glucose and glycerol. Intervillous fluid concentrations of inositol, mannitol and sorbitol were also significantly higher than in maternal serum. These results demonstrate that the polyol pathway, considered vestigial in adult tissues, is highly active in the human conceptus during early pregnancy. The pathway may serve to maintain ATP concentrations and cellular redox potential while the embryo develops in a low oxygen environment. Polyols may also play important physiological roles in development of the human conceptus, possibly drawing water and solutes across the placenta and expanding the gestational sac.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  M. Jozwik, M. Jozwik, C. Teng, and F. C. Battaglia Concentrations of monosaccharides and their amino and alcohol derivatives in human preovulatory follicular fluid Mol. Hum. Reprod., November 1, 2007; 13(11): 791 - 796. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Takano, Z. Lu, T. Goto, L. Fusi, J. Higham, J. Francis, A. Withey, J. Hardt, B. Cloke, A. V. Stavropoulou, et al. Transcriptional Cross Talk between the Forkhead Transcription Factor Forkhead Box O1A and the Progesterone Receptor Coordinates Cell Cycle Regulation and Differentiation in Human Endometrial Stromal Cells Mol. Endocrinol., October 1, 2007; 21(10): 2334 - 2349. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 F. Prefumo, D. C Gaze, A. T Papageorghiou, P. O Collinson, and B. Thilaganathan First trimester maternal serum ischaemia-modified albumin: a marker of hypoxia-ischaemia-driven early trophoblast development Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2007; 22(7): 2029 - 2032. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. Belkacemi, G. E. Lash, S. K. Macdonald-Goodfellow, J. D. Caldwell, and C. H. Graham Inhibition of Human Trophoblast Invasiveness by High Glucose Concentrations J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., August 1, 2005; 90(8): 4846 - 4851. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| Endocrinology | Endocrine Reviews | J. Clin. End. & Metab. |
| Molecular Endocrinology | Recent Prog. Horm. Res. | All Endocrine Journals |
