Maternal pre-gestational diabetes is a major cause for increased risk of embryonic damage and congenital malformations during pregnancy1, 2. Malformations caused by diabetic embryopathy can affect any tissue, but the most frequent involve the neural system and the heart3, 4. In humans it has been difficult to establish that embryonic malformations are solely a direct effect of glucose toxicity due to the complex metabolic alterations that are characteristic of diabetes mellitus. However, animal studies indicate that exposure of developing embryos to high glucose levels is sufficient to cause cellular damage leading to severe malformations5, 6.