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Fetal Hypercapnia in High-Altitude Acclimatized Sheep: Cerebral Blood Flow and Cerebral Oxygenation

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Abstract

The authors tested the hypothesis that in the high-altitude acclimatized fetus, hypercapnia has a significantly less effect on cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygenation than that in normoxic sea level controls. In the high-altitude acclimatized fetus (3801 m; maintained from day 30 of gestation to near term; n = 6), by use of a laser Doppler flowmeter with a fluorescent O2 probe, the authors measured relative CBF (laser Doppler CBF [LD-CBF]), cortical tissue PO2 (tPO2), and sagittal sinus oxyhemoglobin saturation (HbO2) in response to 20-minute hypercapnia. They also calculated cerebral O2 delivery and cerebral fractional O2 extraction. The authors compared these results to those obtained in near-sea-level control animals (low-altitude group). In response to hypercapnia (arterial PCO2 = 63 ± 2 torr vs 42 ± 1 torr baseline), high-altitude fetuses showed similar increases in LD-CBF, cortical tPO2, and sagittal sinus (HbO2) as compared with those responses seen in the fetus at low altitude. Nonetheless, these fetuses showed a significantly smaller decrease in cerebral fractional O2 extraction compared to low-altitude fetuses. In response to hypercapnia in high-altitude, acclimatized, long-term hypoxic fetal sheep, the response of CBF and cerebral oxygenation did not differ significantly from that of low-altitude controls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Perinatal Biology, Departments of Physiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, 92350, USA

    Takuji Tomimatsu MD, Jorge Pereyra Peňa MD & Lawrence D. Longo MD

Authors
  1. Takuji Tomimatsu MD
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  2. Jorge Pereyra Peňa MD
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  3. Lawrence D. Longo MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lawrence D. Longo MD.

Additional information

Supported by US Public Health Service grants HD/HL-03807 and HD- 31226 to Lawrence D. Longo.

We thank Larkin Rieke, Douglas P. Hatran, and Shannon Bragg for technical assistance and Brenda Kreutzer for preparing the manuscript.

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Tomimatsu, T., Peňa, J.P. & Longo, L.D. Fetal Hypercapnia in High-Altitude Acclimatized Sheep: Cerebral Blood Flow and Cerebral Oxygenation. Reprod. Sci. 14, 51–58 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719106298211

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