The relations between erythrocytic and CNS parameters following postnatal hypobaric hypoxia of the rat

In the present paper the relations between selected erythrocytic criteria and alterations of biochemical brain parameters following hypoxia were investigated in order to find out the relevance of erythrocytic criteria for the diagnosis of hypoxia-induced alterations of the CNS during development. Newborn Wistar rats (n = 80) with their mother were exposed to hypobaric hypoxia, pO2 = 11.3 kPa, from day 2-10 of life, daily for 11 h. On the 11th day of life the animals had a lower body (38%), liver (33%) and brain (17%) weight, an increased number of reticulocytes, a lower median density of peripheral red blood cells (rbc) and an increased packed cell volume (PCV) indicating stimulation of erythropoiesis. Hypoxia caused a decrease of protein concentration, of AChE activity and of the amount of DNA in the brain tissue. In addition to these parameters the cholesterol level and the protein/DNA ratio are diminished and the carboanhydrase activity is increased in the cortex. In order to quantify the changes of various brain parameters in each animal in the sense of altered development a score of these results was calculated. It can be concluded that the hypoxia-induced changes of erythrocytic parameters correlate with those of the neurochemical indices.