[Endocrine parameters during artificial placentation and postnatal lung maturation]

During a experimental study in premature lamb the adaptation to a artificial placenta was evaluated by means of analysis of endocrine parameters. Performing cesarean section on day 125.-135.13 premature lambs were born and connected to a extracorporeal circuit providing CO2-Removal (ECCO2-R) during apnoic oxygenation over a period of 3 hours and 17 minutes mean duration. The intermittent analysis of 6 endocrine parameters was performed at the beginning of the experiment, after 1 hour and after 3 hours. TSH showed an statistical significant increase from a initial concentration of 0.638 +/- 0.051 microE/ml to 0.992 +/- 0.093 microE/ml after 1 hour (p 0.01). For T3 we found 0.273 +/- 0.074 nmol/l and 0.809 +/- 0.124 nmol/l. For RT3 we detected a decrease as the initial value was 4.304 +/- 0.474 ng/ml whereas after one hour we found 2.040 +/- 0.153 ng/ml. ACTH values increased from 543 +/- 109 pg/ml to 1150 +/- 194 pg/ml after 1 hour. Cortisol values increase from 39.6 +/- 7.5 ng/ml to 55.3 +/- 11.9 ng/ml. No significant change was found during the analysis of beta-endorphin concentrations. We conclude that the adaptation to artificial umbilical circulation is possible. Furthermore detected changes of endocrine parameters, namely cortisol and thyroxin levels, should provide a basis for postnatal organ maturation.