Fig. 5.

Impairment of metabolic adaptation and reliance on mitochondrial energy generation with increasing maternal adiposity. Cytotrophoblasts were isolated from placentae of males and females from LN, OW, and OB women and allowed to syncytialize for 72 h. The medium was changed in the final 24 h to contain glucose (17 mM) or galactose (10 mM) as a carbohydrate source, facilitating the reliance on either glycolysis and mitochondrial or exclusively mitochondrial respiration, respectively. Mitochondrial function was determined, and the OCR parameters were calculated. *P < 0.05 vs. glucose; n = 8/BMI group. Basal, basal respiration; ATP, ATP-coupled respiration; Max, maximal respiration; Spare, spare capacity.