Effect of acute perinatal asphyxia on development of the lung and brain in the rat

Fetal rats were exposed to asphyxia by compression of the umbilical vessels, and the animals were studied shortly after delivery, close to term (21st fetal day). Following asphyxia on the 20th fetal day, the lungs appeared immature. The surface active phospholipids, disaturated lecithin and phosphatidylglycerol, as well as the elastic tissue around the alveoli were lower than in the control littermates. However, lung maturity was little affected following asphyxia on the 17th-18th fetal day. As studied in the brain, hemorrhages in the periventricular area, sometimes intraventricular hemorrhages, were evident (asphyxia on the 17-18 and 20th fetal days). In addition, cells in cerebral cortex were altered following asphyxia of 17 - to 18-day-old fetuses. The present animal model clarifies the mechanism of increased incidence of respiratory distress syndrome following acute asphyxia and may prove to be useful in studies of pathogenesis of periventricular hemorrhages.