title: myo-Inositol homeostasis in the human fetus.
abstract: The concentration of myo-inositol in the serum of pregnant women (21.4 microM) remained unchanged throughout pregnancy and was not significantly different from that in the serum of nonpregnant women (24.5 microM). myo-Inositol concentrations in mixed cord serum averaged 125 microM at midgestation. At term, the concentration of myo-inositol was 60.2 microM in the umbilical artery and 45.4 microM in the umbilical vein. In every umbilical cord examined, the ratio of myo-inositol concentration in umbilical artery to that in umbilical vein exceeded 1.0. Activity of a putative regulatory enzyme in the biosynthesis of myo-inositol from glucose, ie, glucose 6-P:inositol 1-P cyclase (cyclase), was measured in placenta, fetal lung, and fetal liver. In placenta at midgestation and at term, cyclase activity was 87.8 and 90.7 nmol X g-1 tissue X h-1, respectively. Cyclase activity in fetal lung and liver at midgestation was 54.6 and 54.4 nmol X g-1 tissue X h-1, respectively. The gestational decline in the concentration of myo-inositol in fetal serum may represent a decreasing availability of myo-inositol to the fetal lungs and could be important in the mechanism whereby the amounts of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol in lung surfactant are regulated during fetal lung development.
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000032:analysis* / Q000201:enzymology; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007294:Inositol / Q000097:blood*; D007296:Myo-Inositol-1-Phosphate Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D010715:Phosphatidylglycerols / Q000378:metabolism; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D010715:Phosphatidylglycerols; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D007294:Inositol; D007296:Myo-Inositol-1-Phosphate Synthase