Cerebral pressure autoregulation and vasoreactivity in the newborn rat

Perinatal brain injury has been associated with impaired cerebral blood flow (CBF) pressure autoregulation. The brain of 3- to 5-d-old rat pups is immature and similar to that of a preterm infant, and therefore we tested cerebral vasoreactivity in that animal. CBF pressure autoregulation was tested in 20 Wistar pups during normocapnia and hypercapnia, respectively. Hypotension was induced by hemorrhage and cerebral perfusion was monitored with laser Doppler flowmetry and near-infrared spectroscopy. Systolic blood pressure was measured noninvasively from the tail. During normocapnia, the autoregulatory plateau was narrow. Resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 39.2 mm Hg and CBF remained constant until SBP decreased below 36.0 mm Hg (SE 0.8). Below the lower limit, CBF declined by a mean of 2.7% per mm Hg [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.4-3.0%], and hemoglobin difference (HbD) and total hemoglobin (HbT) changed proportionally to CBF. After inhalation of carbon dioxide, CBF increased significantly by a mean of 17.7% (95% CI, 13.7-22.8%). The CBF-CO2 reactivity was estimated to 13.4% per kPa (95% CI, 2-24.8%), p=0.026. Over the range of SBP (6-54 mm Hg), a linear relationship between CBF and SBP was found during hypercapnia, indicating abolished pressure autoregulation. A linear correlation between CBF and HbD was found (r=0.80). CBF pressure autoregulation and reactivity to CO2 operate in the newborn rat. This model may be useful for future investigations concerning perinatal pathophysiology in the immature brain.