The prolonged effect of repeated maternal glucocorticoid exposure on the maternal and fetal leptin/insulin-like growth factor axis in Papio species

Background: Maternal obesity represents a risk factor for pregnancy-related complications. Glucocorticoids are known to promote obesity in adults. Methods: We evaluated maternal and fetal metabolic changes during and after 3 weekly courses of betamethasone administered to pregnant baboons (Papio subspecies) at doses equivalent to those given to pregnant women. Results: Betamethasone administration during the second half of pregnancy increased maternal weight but neither maternal food intake nor fetal weight, as assessed at the end of gestation. Betamethasone increased maternal serum glucose concentration, the ratio of insulin-like growth factor-I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3, and serum leptin during treatment (normalized by 17, 35, and 45 days posttreatment, respectively, for each parameter). Maternal and fetal serum leptin concentrations did not differ between groups at the end of gestation. Conclusion: Prolonged maternal hyperleptinemia caused by betamethasone administration in the second half of gestation did not change fetal metabolic parameters measured and placental leptin distribution at the end of gestation.