Norepinephrine elevation in the fetal lamb: oxygen consumption and cardiac output

In an effort to determine if placental diffusion reserves exceed fetal O2 requirements, we increased fetal O2 consumption (VO2) by infusing 1.7-11.5 microgram of norepinephrine (NE) . min-1. After 50 min of infusion VO2 rose 25% to 10.2 from 8.2 ml . min-1 . kg fetal wt-1. Placental CO diffusing capacity remained essentially unchanged from control, 0.49 +/- 0.05 (SE) ml . min-1. Torr-1 . kg-1, During the first 5 min of NE infusion fetal arterial blood pressure increased 29%, while heart rate decreased 15%. In addition, coronary, pulmonary, and umbilical blood flow, expressed per kilogram of fetal weight as determined by use of labeled microspheres, increased 50, 162, and 25%, respectively (P less than 0.05), although fetal cardiac output remained constant at 538 +/- 23 (SE) ml . min-1 . kg-1. Finally, we determined the NE-blood pressure dose-response relations for the fetus; Blood pressure increased with doses up to 1 microgram . min-1 . kg-1, but failed to rise further with higher doses. We conclude that 1) fetal VO2 increases with NE infusion 2) the placental reserve for O2 diffusion exceeds normal requirements, and 3) NE infusion is associated with increased blood pressure, bradycardia, and a redistribution of blood flows to the heart, lungs, and placenta despite a constant cardiac output.