الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION & AIM OF THE WORKOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 115 |  |  |
| | | from | 115 | | |
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is a group metabolic disorder of multiple etiology characterized by sustained
hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat, and protein homeostasis resulting from
defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both (American Diabetes, 2013).
Pregnant women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth,
congenital malformations, placental abnormalities, and intrauterine malprogramming. Despite
current treatments, maternal diabetes is an unfavorable environment for embryonic and
fetoplacental development (Simeoni & Barker; Plagemann, Harder, & Dudenhausen, 2008;
Montserrat Balsells et al., 2009; Higgins et al., 2011; Mathiesen, Ringholm, & Damm, 2011;
Vrachnis et al., 2012).
These important aspects of human diabetic pregnancies can be studied using the appropriate
animal models (Jawerbaum & White, 2010) not only by ethical reasons but also by the
multiplicity of uncontrolled variables that may modify the intrauterine environment (López-
Soldado & Herrera, 2003).