Pulmonary clearance and release of norepinephrine and epinephrine in newborn lambs

To examine the pulmonary kinetics of the catecholamines norepinephrine and epinephrine immediately after birth, eight fetal lambs were instrumented with vascular catheters under general anesthesia at 133-134 days gestation (term = 147 days) and were delivered by cesarean section 1 wk later. Pulmonary norepinephrine and epinephrine kinetics were then studied 1 and 4 h after birth using radiotracer dilution methodology. The pulmonary fractional extraction of norepinephrine was similar in 1-h (0.111 +/- 0.021) and 4-h (0.117 +/- 0.023) lambs and constituted 24 +/- 5 and 32 +/- 9% of total body norepinephrine clearance, respectively. Pulmonary removal of epinephrine was less pronounced with a fractional extraction of 0.035 +/- 0.017 in 1-h and 0.036 +/- 0.013 in 4-h lambs, which corresponded to 8 +/- 4 and 9 +/- 3% of total body epinephrine clearance, respectively. Pulmonary spillover of norepinephrine into the circulation was similar in 1-h (79 +/- 26 ng.min-1.kg-1) and 4-h (82 +/- 18 ng.min-1.kg-1) lambs, and this comprised 27 +/- 8 and 42 +/- 8% of total body norepinephrine spillover, respectively. Pulmonary epinephrine spillover was not detectable at 1 h, but it occurred in all 4-h lambs, averaging 4.7 +/- 0.8 ng.min-1.kg-1 or 20 +/- 6% of epinephrine total body spillover. These findings indicate that the lungs of newborn lambs 1) are a major site for removal of norepinephrine and epinephrine from the circulation; 2) release a substantial quantity of norepinephrine into the circulation, consistent with the presence of tonic pulmonary sympathetic nerve activity; and 3) constitute a significant extra-adrenal source of plasma epinephrine.