This study was to investigate the effects of maternal diabetes on the lung tissue of the fetal rat using lectin histochemistry and electron microscope technique. Maternal diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (75 mg/kg the body weight) into pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats on the 7th day of gestation. Fetuses of streptozotocin induced diabetic rats exhibited delayed lung maturation and reduced air space. In lectin histochemistry, the binding of Maclura pomifera (MPA) to fetal lungs from diabetic mothers was reduced, but no significant changes in the bindings of Concanavalin A (Con A), Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), Ricinus communis I (RCA I) and Griffonia simplicifolia (GSI-$B_4$) were noted. Because the MPA has affinity to terminal N-acetyl-D-galactosamine residues constantly linked O-glycosidically to serine or threonine, the present findings may indicates that maternal diabetes interfere with the processes of O-linked glycosylation in fetal rat lung.