Cerebral tissue oxygenation during hypoxia and hyperoxia using artificial placentation in lamb

Aiming at a better understanding of the pathophysiologic basis of perinatal encephalopathy, we evaluated patterns of tissue oxygenation during hypoxia and hyperoxia. We utilized both laserspectroscopy and invasive tissue-Po2 microneed measurements synchronously in five newborn lambs (141-143 days of gestation). The model of artificial placentation provided defined changes of the blood gases, using a extracorporeal circuit with interposition of membrane lung. During hyperoxia, the Po2 at the blood outlet port of the lung was raised to > 300 mmHg for five minutes. During hypoxia, Po2 was diminished as oxygen at the gas phasis was replaced by nitrogen. After the induction of hyperoxia, a rise of tissue-Po2 was observed. The synchronously recorded data of the laserspectroscopy showed adequately rising HbO2 values in concordance (r = 0.97, p < 0.001). As a constant finding we did not observe Cyt-aa3 changes during induced hyperoxia with tissue-Po2 values of < 40 mmHg. Furthermore, no changes in blood volume occurred in this case. A different pattern of the laserspectroscopic parameters was found when the tissue-Po2 rose above a value of > 40 mmHg and Cyt-aa3 rose after a lag-time occurred. During induced hypoxia an immediate fall of tissue-Po2 corresponding with a fall of HbO2 in the spectroscopic tracing occurred (r = 0.87, p < 0.001). A fall of the Cyt-aa3 level was seen with a lag-time when the tissue-Po2 had reached values of below 10 mmHg. In addition, a rise of blood volume was recorded in all cases of induced hypoxia. In conclusion, the results indicated that cellular redoxe state remains stable over a large range of oxygen partial pressure changes.