Fig. 3.

Metabolic adaptations of capacities for fatty acid metabolism in the livers of pregnant (n = 8) vs. non-pregnant (n = 7) rats. Capacities for (A) free fatty acid (ffa) uptake, (B) triacylglycerol (tag) synthesis, and (C) lipoprotein synthesis (vldl export) in dependence on plasma fatty acid concentrations. Corresponding maximal capacities are depicted by the box plots on the right. Metabolic functions for fatty acid metabolism in pregnant animals under physiological conditions from fasted (3 mM plasma glucose) to fed (12 mM plasma glucose) states. (D) Ffa uptake, (E) tag synthesis, and (F) lipoprotein synthesis in dependence on plasma glucose concentrations. The blue curves depict control livers, while the red curves depict the livers of pregnant animals. The solid lines depict the mean values for each group, and the shaded areas depict the standard variation. Box plots on the right depict metabolic function under fed (12 mM plasma glucose) and fasted conditions (3 mM plasma glucose). The center lines represent the median, the boxes represent the interquartile range, and the whiskers are defined by values within 1.5 times the interquartile range. Outliers are represented as dots. Blue boxes show control livers and red boxes depict livers of pregnant animals. Red bars indicate significant differences assessed by a two-sided t-test with a p-value <0.01. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)