title: Fructose in fetal cord blood and its relationship with maternal and 48-hour-newborn blood concentrations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies have suggested that different non-glucose sugars and sugar alcohols play a role in placental and fetal metabolism. However, the role of fructose in the fetal and newborn metabolism is unclear and studies are scarce.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to investigate the presence of fructose in umbilical cord blood in full-term gestation and its relationship with maternal and 48-hour-old- newborn blood concentrations, to evaluate fructose production by the fetus and newborn infant.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood fructose and glucose concentrations were determined by HPLC in 26 paired samples of maternal blood, umbilical cord vein, and peripheral newborn blood at 48 h after birth. ANOVA, the Friedman Analysis of Variance on Ranks and the Pearson correlation with p<0.05 were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fructose concentration in umbilical cord blood was higher than maternal blood (p=0.024), suggesting endogenous fructose production by the fetal-placental unit via the sorbitol pathway. Fructose concentrations were higher in newborns at 48 h after birth than in the fetal umbilical cord blood (p=0.004), suggesting that fructose production is a continuous process from fetus to newborn.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fructose production by the sorbitol pathway, present in the fetus and newborn, is an alternative pathway in glucose metabolism probably used to maintain redox balance in the fetus. We suggest that endogenous fructose, similar to dietary ingested fructose, under physiological conditions produces the backbone for triacylglycerol and lipid synthesis in the fetus and newborn. Therefore the route for metabolizing fructose is already present in the early steps of human development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Botucatu School of Medicine, UNESP São Paulo State University-Botucatu, Botucatu, São Paulo 18618-970, Brazil. cleidet@fmb.unesp.br
authors.forename: Cleide E P
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Trindade
authors.forename: Rodrigo C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Barreiros
authors.forename: Cilmery
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
authors.forename: Grasiela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bossolan
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry*; D005333:Fetus; D005632:Fructose / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000097:blood*; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011773:Pyruvates / Q000097:blood; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D011773:Pyruvates; D005632:Fructose; D019344:Lactic Acid