Effects of Endogenous and Exogenous Glucocorticoids on Liver Differentiation

The effects of maternal bilateral adrenalectomy on day 1 of gestation and betamethasone treatment on fetal liver development were compared, in terms of biochemical and morphological parameters. For fetuses 20 days old (E20), absence of maternal glucocorticoids during gestation caused an increase in the number of nuclei in whole livers, and a significantly decrease of both body weight and protein content per nucleus, in comparison with the control group (C). Betamethasone injection on days 15, 16 and 17 of gestation into adrenalectomized pregnant rats (ADX + BET) did not completely prevent these effects.