Cardiac output changes during neonatal growth

Changes in resting cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), and systemic vascular resistance (SVR) during neonatal growth were studied in chronically instrumented lambs from the 1st to 5th wk of age; adult nonpregnant sheep values measured simultaneously were used as standard reference. Neonatal responses to autonomic agonists and antagonists were also investigated. Total CO increased linearly with neonatal growth, but decreased strikingly when expressed per weight unit; at 5 wk of age, CO/kg was still significantly higher than the adult value. SV also increased with neonatal growth but did not change when related to body weight; at 5 wk of age, SV/kg values were still higher than those of adult sheep. SVR changed reciprocally to CO. The decrease in CO/kg during neonatal growth paralleled the progressive decline in heart rate (HR). Beta receptor stimulation increased neonatal CO markedly and the increment was the same from the first through the fifth neonatal week. Beta blockade had insignificant effects, but cholinergic blockade produced moderate CO increases.