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Updated: Sep 29, 2026
Instrumentation of Near-term Fetal Sheep for Multivariate Chronic Non-anesthetized Recordings
Published on: October 25, 2015
BOLD MRI in the brain of fetal sheep at 3T during experimental hypoxia
Bjoern P Schoennagel1, Jin Yamamura, Roland Fischer
1Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Purpose:
To calculate regional fetal brain oxygen saturation (sO2) during hypoxia in sheep.
Materials And Methods:
Eight pregnant ewes were examined at a 3T MR-scanner using blood oxygenation level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI) to measure signal intensity changes of the fetal brain during a control period and a period of induced hypoxia. Regions of interest were placed in the fetal cerebrum to assess ΔR2* from GRE signal intensity plateaus (S(control), S(hypoxia)) and the relation between ΔR2* and ΔpO2 was analyzed. A probe was placed surgically in the fetal brain to directly measure local pO2 as a reference standard. Baseline and hypoxic pO2 values were recorded and compared (ΔpO2).
Results:
Mean fetal brain pO2 decreased from 14.3 mmHg (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10-19) to 3.4 mmHg (95% CI: 2-5) during hypoxia (mean ΔpO2 = 10.9 mmHg and ΔR2* = -5s(-1)). A significant correlation between ΔR2* and ΔpO2 was noted (r = 0.93, P < 0.001), and conversion of pO2 into sO2 resulted in a linear regression coefficient of (-0.14 ± 0.01)s(-1)/% (r(2) = 0.91).
Conclusion:
Measured fetal brain BOLD-MRI was compared and converted to pO2, followed by calculation of cerebral sO2.
