BODY WATER OF NEWBORN INFANTS OF DIABETIC MOTHERS

Abstract

ABSTRACT The total body water as well as the distribution of water in the extracellular and intracellular compartments was determined in 23 infants born to diabetic mothers (diab. infants) and 15 infants born to normal mothers (normal infants). The total body water was determined by the dilution method using heavy water, and the extracellular water by the dilution method using thiosulphate. Intracellular water was calculated as total water less extracellular water. The analytical methods are described. Diab. infants proved to have a mean total body water of 2.48 litres or 70.2 per cent of the body weight, a mean extracellular water content of 1.41 litre or 38.5 per cent of the body weight, and a mean intracellular water content of 1.16 litre or 31.8 per cent of the body weight. Normal infants had a mean total body water of 2.58 litres or 78.2 per cent of the body weight, a mean extracellular water content of 1.53 litre or 44.9 per cent of the body weight, and a mean intracellular water content of 1.12 litre or 33.5 per cent of the body weight. The reduction in total and extracellular water in the diab. infants is statistically significant, whereas that of intracellular water is more doubtful. The reduction in total body water means that diab. infants are obese. A marked decrease in total as well as extracellular water without a substantial decrease in intracellular water cannot be due to obesity alone, since fat is assumed to contain more extracellular than intracellular water. Increased deposition of glycogen, which binds water in the cells and constitutes an intermediate product in the transformation of glucose to fat, can explain, when also considering the obesity, the reduction in total and extracellular water without a simultaneous decrease of intracellular water. Considering the influence of insulin, corticosteroids and growth hormone on the body composition, the author concludes that the changes found in the body composition of newborn infants of diabetic mothers (obesity + presumably increased glycogen) may be assumed to be due to maternal hyperglycaemia with consequent foetal hyperglycaemia + hyperinsulinism, but not to an action of maternal growth hormone. In other words, the result supports the so-called hyperglycaemia hypothesis as the cause of the increased weight and changed body composition of the newborn infants of diabetic women.