The vulnerability of the fetal sheep brain to hypoxemia at mid-gestation

Our aim was to test the hypothesis that a brief episode of hypoxemia near mid-gestation in fetal sheep will result in damage to the fetal brain with the extent and type of damage in any particular region being related to the developmental processes occurring at the time of the insult. Hypoxemia was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research. Developmental brain research 1997-11, Vol.103 (2), p.103-118
Main Authors: Rees, S, Stringer, M, Just, Y, Hooper, S.B, Harding, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Body Weight
Brain
Brain - embryology
Brain - pathology
Brain - ultrastructure
Cerebellum
Cerebral cortex
Development
Female
Fetal
Fetus
Gestational Age
Hippocampus
Hippocampus - embryology
Hippocampus - pathology
Hypoxemia
Hypoxia - embryology
Hypoxia - pathology
Maternal-Fetal Exchange
Neurons - pathology
Organ Size
Oxygen - blood
Pregnancy
Pyramidal Cells - pathology
Sheep
Structure
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Summary:Our aim was to test the hypothesis that a brief episode of hypoxemia near mid-gestation in fetal sheep will result in damage to the fetal brain with the extent and type of damage in any particular region being related to the developmental processes occurring at the time of the insult. Hypoxemia was induced, sufficient to reduce arterial O 2 content by approximately 50%, by restricting utero–placental blood flow in 14 chronically catheterised fetuses for 6 h or 12 h at 84 days of gestation (term 145–8 days). Age-matched fetuses ( n=14; 4 operated and 10 unoperated) were used as controls. Fetuses were killed 7 days after being exposed to hypoxemia, and brains removed for histological analysis at the light and ultrastructural levels. Body weights of hypoxemic fetuses did not differ significantly from controls but brain weights were significantly reduced both in absolute terms and when expressed in relation to body weight ( P
ISSN:0165-3806
DOI:10.1016/S0165-3806(97)81787-7