Purine and pyrimidine metabolism and electrocortical brain activity during hypotension in near-term lambs.

Background: Insufficient cerebral O2 supply leads to cellular energy failure and loss of brain cell function. The relationship between the severity of cellular energy failure due to hemorrhagic hypotension and the loss of electrocortical brain activity (ECBA), as a measure of brain cell function, is not yet fully elucidated in near-term born lambs.

Objectives: To study the relationship between cerebral purine and pyrimidine metabolism, as a measure of brain cell energy failure, and brain cell function after hemorrhagic hypotension in near-term born lambs.

Purine and pyrimidine metabolism and electrocortical brain activity during hypoxemia in near-term lambs.

Insufficient cerebral O(2) supply leads to brain cell damage and loss of brain cell function. The relationship between the severity of hypoxemic brain cell damage and the loss of electrocortical brain activity (ECBA), as measure of brain cell function, is not yet fully elucidated in near-term newborns. We hypothesized that there is a strong relationship between cerebral purine and pyrimidine metabolism, as measures of brain cell damage, and brain cell function during hypoxemia.