Polyol accumulation in human placenta and umbilical cord.

Abstract

Ultrafiltrable metabolites in human term placenta and umbilical cord were analysed by means of 13C-NMR spectroscopy and gas-liquid chromatography. In these tissues, existing in a very reduced redox state, lactate and polyols (sorbitol, myoinositol and xylitol) were found to be the major accumulated intermediates of the glycolytic pathways. The cord tissue preferentially took up myoinositol.