Cerebral arterial and venous contributions to tissue oxygenation index measured using spatially resolved spectroscopy in newborn lambs.

Background: Bedside assessments of cerebral oxygenation are sought to monitor cerebral injury in patients undergoing intensive care. Spatially resolved spectroscopy measures tissue oxygenation index (TOI, %) which reflects mixed cerebral arterial and venous oxygenations. We aimed to evaluate arterial and venous components of TOI (cerebral arterial to venous volume ratio [A:V ratio]) in the newborn lamb brain using cerebral arterial and venous blood samples, and to investigate the impact of acute hypoxemia on the A:V ratio and TOI.

Maturation of respiratory control and the propensity for breathing instability in a sheep model.

Limited evidence suggests that the ventilatory interaction between O(2) and CO(2) is additive after birth and becomes multiplicative with postnatal development. Such a switch may be linked to the propensity for periodic breathing (PB) in infancy. To test this idea, we characterized the maturation of the respiratory controller and its effect on breathing stability in approximately 10-day-old lambs and 6-mo-old sheep.

Continuous positive airway pressure reduces loop gain and resolves periodic central apneas in the lamb.

Continous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is used to treat infant respiratory distress syndrome and apnea of prematurity, but its mode of action is not fully understood. We hypothesised that CPAP increases lung volume and stabilises respiratory control by decreasing loop gain (LG). Experimentally induced periodic breathing (PB) in the lamb was terminated early by CPAP in a dose-dependent manner, with a control epoch of 45.

Tissue oxygenation index measured using spatially resolved spectroscopy correlates with changes in cerebral blood flow in newborn lambs.

Background/objective: Abnormal cerebral haemodynamics in very preterm infants undergoing neonatal intensive care have been associated with adverse outcome, but cerebral blood flow (CBF) is difficult to assess at the cotside. Spatially resolved spectroscopy (SRS) continuously measures cerebral tissue oxygen saturation expressed as tissue oxygenation index (TOI, %), and TOI would reflect changes in CBF with constant cerebral metabolic demand. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between simultaneous measurements of CBF (Transonic System) and TOI (Hamamatsu NIRO-200) in newborn lambs (n = 8).

Increased peripheral chemosensitivity via dopaminergic manipulation promotes respiratory instability in lambs.

Periodic breathing (PB) is an instability of the respiratory control system believed to be mediated principally by the peripheral chemoreceptors. We hypothesised that domperidone, a dopamine D(2)-receptor antagonist that increases carotid body sensitivity to O(2) and CO(2), would promote PB through an increase in the loop gain (LG) of the respiratory control system. Domperidone significantly increased controller gain for oxygen (p<0.

Validation of cerebral venous oxygenation measured using near-infrared spectroscopy and partial jugular venous occlusion in the newborn lamb.

Near-infrared spectroscopy combined with partial jugular venous occlusion (JVO) offers promise for determining cerebral venous saturation (CSvO(2)) in sick preterm infants, but has not been validated in the newborn brain or under conditions of hypoxaemia. We assessed the accuracy of the CSvO(2) estimate using cerebral venous oxygen saturation in superior sagittal sinus blood (SSSO(2)) as the 'gold standard'. Comparisons were made in seven newborn lambs over a wide range of arterial oxygen saturations (SaO(2)) of 20% to 100%.

Expulsion of liquid from the fetal lung during labour in sheep.

Effective gas exchange after birth requires clearance of most of the liquid filling the lung during gestation. To date the focus has been on active Na(+) transport from lung lumen to interstitium, but Na(+) transport begins only close to delivery, making it an unlikely mechanism for clearing the bulk of fetal lung liquid. We hypothesised that fetal trunk muscle contractions, known to occur in labour, are involved in lung liquid clearance.

Impact of changes in inspired oxygen and carbon dioxide on respiratory instability in the lamb.

We examined the effect of hypoxia and hypercapnia administered during deliberately induced periodic breathing (PB) in seven lambs following posthyperventilation apnea. Based on our theoretical analysis, the sensitivity or loop gain (LG) of the respiratory control system of the lamb is directly proportional to the difference between alveolar PO2 and inspired PO2. This analysis indicates that during PB, when by necessity LG is >1, replacement of the inspired gas with one of reduced PO2 lowers LG; if we made inspired PO2 approximate alveolar PO2, we predict that LG would be approximately zero and breathing would promptly stabilize.