Finding new clues to a sugar suspect in birth defects

Most pregnant women with well-controlled diabetes give birth to healthy children. But their babies run much higher risks of birth defects than babies born to women without diabetes, because very early in embryonic development, the babies are exposed to higher levels of glucose in maternal blood. In research done in mice, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have uncovered new clues about the role that glucosamine, another sugar that circulates in blood, can play in early embryonic development.