Abstract
Extract: ACTH mixed with barium sulfate injected into fetal rabbits on day 24 of a 31-day gestation was associated with increased lung maturity compared with lungs of noninjected controls when assessed by deflation pressure–volume curves and lung weight to body weight ratios measured on day 27. Fetuses injected with saline and barium sulfate also had accelerated (although somewhat less) lung maturation, perhaps from an ACTH-mediated response to stress. The ACTH group (A) maintained the largest lung volumes on deflation, followed by the saline group (B), the ACTH controls (C), and the saline controls (D). Volumes (percentage of total lung capacity) between the two injected groups and their controls (A versus C; B versus D) were significantly different at transthoracic pressures of 15, 10, 7, 4, 0, and −2 cm water (p < 0.05). Volumes (percentage of total lung capacity) between the ACTH group and the saline group (A versus B) and between the two controls groups (C versus D) were not significantly different. Wet lung weight to body weight ratios were significantly different between the injected groups and their respective controls, between the two injected groups, and between the two control groups.
Speculation: Changes in pressure-volume relationships and lung weight to body weight ratios after injections of ACTH or saline into fetal rabbits support the hypothesis that fetal glucocorticoids are physiologic regulators of lung maturation.
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Robert, M., Bator, A. & Taeusch, H. Pulmonary Pressure-Volume Relationships after Corticotropin (ACTH) and Saline Injections in Fetal Rabbits. Pediatr Res 9, 760–762 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197510000-00002
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197510000-00002