Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), characterized by a transitory form of diabetes induced by insulin resistance and pancreatic β-cell dysfunction during pregnancy, has been identified as one of the major obstacles in achieving improved maternal and child health. Approximately 9–25% of pregnancies worldwide are impacted by the acute, long-term, and transgenerational health complications of this disease. Here, we discuss how GDM affects longstanding maternal and neonatal outcomes, as well as health risks that likely persist into future generations. In addition to the current challenges in the management and diagnosis of and the complications associated with GDM, we discuss current preclinical models of GDM to better understand the underlying pathophysiology of the disease and the timely need to increase our scientific toolbox to identify strategies to prevent and treat GDM, thereby advancing clinical care.

Although the developing pancreas is exquisitely sensitive to nutrient supply in utero, it is not entirely clear how nutrient-driven posttranslational modification of proteins impacts the pancreas during development. We hypothesized that the nutrient-sensing enzyme O-GlcNAc transferase (Ogt), which catalyzes an O-GlcNAc-modification onto key target proteins, integrates nutrient-signaling networks to regulate cell survival and development. In this study, we investigated the heretofore unknown role of Ogt in exocrine and endocrine islet development. By genetic manipulation in vivo and by using morphometric and molecular analyses, such as immunofluorescence imaging and single cell RNA sequencing, we show the first evidence that Ogt regulates pancreas development. Genetic deletion of Ogt in the pancreatic epithelium (OgtKO Panc) causes pancreatic hypoplasia, in part by increased apoptosis and reduced levels of of Pdx1 protein. Transcriptomic analysis of single cell and bulk RNA sequencing uncovered cell-type heterogeneity and predicted upstream regulator proteins that mediate cell survival, including Pdx1, Ptf1a and p53, which are putative Ogt targets. In conclusion, these findings underscore the requirement of O-GlcNAcylation during pancreas development and show that Ogt is essential for pancreatic progenitor survival, providing a novel mechanistic link between nutrients and pancreas development.

The results highlight important attributes that helpers (nurses) should have in order to alleviate the suffering of severe acute respiratory syndrome patients and their relatives.

The importance of sexual dimorphism has been highlighted in recent years since the National Institutes of Health’s mandate on considering sex as a biological variable. While recent studies have taken strides to study both sexes side by side, investigations into the normal physiological differences between males and females are limited. In this study, we aimed to characterized sex-dependent differences in glucose metabolism and pancreatic beta cell physiology in normal conditions using C57BL/6J mice, the most common mouse strain used in metabolic studies. Here we report that female mice have improved glucose and insulin tolerance associated with lower non-fasted blood glucose and insulin levels compared to male mice at 3 and 6 month of age. Both male and female animals show beta cell mass expansion from e17.5 to adulthood, and no sex differences were observed at e17.5, newborn, 1 month, or 3 months of age. However, 6-month old males displayed increased beta cell mass in response to insulin resistance compared to littermate females. Molecularly, we uncovered sexual dimorphic alterations in the protein levels of nutrient sensing proteins Ogt and mTOR, as well as differences in glucose-stimulus coupling mechanisms that may underlie the differences in sexually dimorphic beta cell physiology observed in C57BL/6J mice.

In pregnancies complicated by maternal obesity and gestational diabetes mellitus, there is strong evidence to suggest that the insulin signaling pathway in the placenta may be impaired. This may have potential effects on the programming of the metabolic health in the offspring; however, a direct link between the placental insulin signaling pathway and the offspring health remains unknown. Here, we aimed to understand whether specific placental loss of the insulin receptor (InsR) has a lasting effect on the offspring health in mice. Obesity and glucose homeostasis were assessed in the adult mouse offspring on a normal chow diet (NCD) followed by a high-fat diet (HFD) challenge. Compared to their littermate controls, InsR KOplacenta offspring were born with normal body weight and pancreatic β-cell mass. Adult InsR KOplacenta mice exhibited normal glucose homeostasis on an NCD. Interestingly, under a HFD challenge, adult male InsR KOplacenta offspring demonstrated lower body weight and a mildly improved glucose homeostasis associated with parity. Together, our data show that placenta-specific insulin receptor deletion does not adversely affect offspring glucose homeostasis during adulthood. Rather, there may potentially be a mild and transient protective effect in the mouse offspring of multiparous dams under the condition of a diet-induced obesogenic challenge.