Perinatal accumulation of arterial wall constituents: relation to hemodynamic changes at birth

We compared arterial growth to hemodynamic changes in the perinatal period in lambs. Blood pressure did not change significantly from 120 days gestation to 3 days postpartum, when it was 45.4 +/- 1.9 mmHg; however, pressure rose to 64.8 +/- 2.5 mmHg at 21 days postpartum. Thoracic and abdominal aortic and iliac and carotid arterial blood flows fell > 50% after birth but returned to fetal levels except in the abdominal aorta by 21 days postpartum. Blood flows in mesenteric (BFm) and renal (BFr) arteries increased between 120 days gestation (BFr = 13.4 +/- 1.4; BFm = 41.8 +/- 3.5 ml/min) and 140 days gestation (BFr = 25.9 +/- 1.8; BFm = 189 +/- 18 ml/min) and between 3 and 21 days postpartum (to BFr = 71.1 +/- 14.3; BFm = 334 +/- 59 ml/min). Elastin accumulation accelerated at 140 days gestation in all arteries except the thoracic aorta, in which elastin accumulation was always rapid. Collagen but not DNA accumulation also accelerated in most arteries. Postpartum dexamethasone (0.1 mg/kg twice a day) did not affect abdominal aortic elastin by 10 days of age (23.9 +/- 2.7 vs. 26.4 +/- 4.1 mg for controls); however, dexamethasone upregulated tropoelastin mRNA in fetuses. We hypothesize that cortisol stimulates elastin accumulation in late gestation. Postnatal elastin but neither collagen nor DNA correlated with blood flow changes at birth (r = 0.855, P < 0.05). We infer that accumulation of elastin is sensitive to blood flow rates during perinatal development.