Relationship between plasma catecholamine levels and electrocortical state in the mature fetal lamb

In late pregnancy the electrocortical activity (ECoG) in the ovine fetus starts to cycle between high and low voltage states. During the high voltage states of this activity fetal regional blood flows are decreased, and heart rate and fetal arterial blood pressure are both increased. Jensen et al. (1986) have postulated that these changes may be mediated by changes in autonomic tone. To test this hypothesis we placed catheters in 6 near-term sheep fetuses (gestational age = 128 days) and implanted electrodes to measure electrocortical activity. Five days after the surgery, fetal arterial blood was withdrawn during the first 3-5 min of each high and low voltage ECoG for 5 full cycles in each fetus. Plasma samples were analyzed for epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Dopamine levels were not different in high and low voltage electrocortical state. In the high voltage ECoG state, epinephrine levels were 75 +/- 7 pg/ml and fell to 34 +/- 4 pg/ml during low voltage ECoG (P less than 0.01). During the high voltage state plasma norepinephrine was 623 +/- 85 pg/ml and fell during the low voltage period to 462 +/- 99 pg/ml (P less than 0.01). These data demonstrate that in the near-term sheep fetus plasma catecholamine levels fluctuate with ECoG state.