Relationship between lipogenesis and glycogen synthesis in maternal and foetal tissues during late gestation in the rat. Effect of dexamethasone.

Treatment with dexamethasone enhanced 3H2O incorporation into liver and blood lipid, and also increased plasma glucose, insulin, non-esterified fatty acid and triacylglycerol concentrations during late gestation in the mother rat. An inverse relationship between glycogen and lipid synthesis in foetal liver and lung was observed in control rats. This relationship was also observed in foetal liver, but not in foetal lung, after treatment with dexamethasone.