Effect of IGF-I on serine metabolism in fetal sheep

Acute infusion of IGF-I to the fetus has been shown to inhibit amino acid oxidation and appears to increase fetoplacental amino acid uptake. This study was designed to investigate further the effects of IGF-I on fetal amino acid metabolism. Radiolabeled serine was used to test the hypothesis that fetal IGF-I infusion enhances serine uptake into the fetus and/or placenta and inhibits serine oxidation. Eight fetal sheep were studied at 127 days of gestation before and during a 4-h infusion of IGF-I (50 microg/h per kg). During the infusion there was no change in uptake of serine or its oxidation by fetus or placenta. However, both uptake and oxidation of serine and glycine decreased in the fetal carcass. There was also a decrease in fetal blood serine and glycine concentrations which could indicate a decrease in protein breakdown, although reduced amino acid synthesis cannot be excluded. Thus IGF-I appeared to influence the distribution of these amino acids as oxidative substrates between different fetal tissues. In addition, fetal IGF-I infusion increased the conversion of serine to glycine which is likely to have increased the availability of one-carbon groups for biosynthesis. Our data provide further evidence that IGF-I plays a role in the regulation of fetoplacental amino acid metabolism.