Lactate is an important nutrient for babies to use while in the womb. It is assumed that this development helped mammals to survive while the creatures who were hatched had less of a chance to survive. Babies who rejected the glucose to lactate oxidation most likely did not survive? This could be important when thinking about human diet and migrations.


Glucose is the major energy substrate provided to the placenta and fetus. It is transported across the placenta by facilitated diffusion via hexose transporters that are not dependent on insulin (GLUT3 and GLUT1). Although the fetus receives large amounts of intact glucose, a large amount is oxidized within the placenta to lactate, which is used for fetal energy production.
Transport Across the Placenta
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/placenta/transport.html


These and similar questions are best approached when one understands the evolution of placentas from their ultimate precursors of development from its egg ancestor, as the mammalian origin of the placenta finds its ancestry in the egg development of birds.
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http://medicine.ucsd.edu/CPA/placenta.html

4. Damaged platelets release a chemical called ________ which initiates the clotting reactions.
a. acetylcholine
b. carbonic anhydrase
c. FSH
d. thrombokinase
e. oxyhemoglobin
19. Contractions of the uterus and the ejection of milk from mammary glands are both processes under the control of the hormone called ________________.
a. prolactin
b. oxytocin
c. LH
d. glucagon
e. serotonin