A comparison of sheep and human fetal oxygen delivery systems with use of a mathematical model

Human fetal cardiac output measured with ultrasound is only about 60% of that found in the sheep. We modified a previously developed mathematical model of the fetal circulation and oxygen delivery in sheep for the human in order to study several differences. The model predicts that a human fetus can maintain its oxygen delivery with a relatively low cardiac output because of its relatively high fetal hemoglobin concentration, as compared with that of the sheep fetus. Thus an inverse relationship between fetal hemoglobin concentration and fetal cardiac output is suggested. This relationship may be mediated by the influence of red blood cell concentration on blood viscosity. Furthermore, it indicates that fetal anemia should be detectable by ultrasound measurements of increased cardiac output and/or umbilical blood flow. Dynamic responses of the model suggest that the mechanism of late and variable decelerations in the fetal heart rate pattern is mediated via a fall in arterial oxygen tension.