embryos to kill themselves, new studies in mice suggest.

The research could help explain why diabetic mothers have more miscarriages or babies with birth defects.

In the latest issue of the journal "Nature Medicine,'' scientists from Washington University in St. Louis describe studies of diabetic mice. The researchers isolated very young embryos from diabetic mother mice and compared them with embryos from normal mice. Cells in the embryos from the diabetic mothers showed more signs of "apoptosis,'' or cellular suicide, when compared with the embryo cells from normal mother mice.

When the researchers treated the diabetes with insulin, however, the mouse embryos were normal.

The St. Louis scientists think the same cell suicide problems might occur in women with diabetes. If too many If the situation in people really is the same as in mice, the scientists said, it means diabetic women should work to control their disease before and during their pregnancy.

cells die in very young embryos, certain organs might not be able to form properly later on. That could result in a miscarriage or a birth defect, they said.

If the situation in people really is the same as in mice, the scientists said, it means diabetic women should work to control their disease before and during their pregnancy. The researchers emphasized that since the problems in the mice occurred early on -- even before the embryo implanted in the uterus -- women should have their diabetes under control before they become pregnant. -- Dallas Morning News