Abstract
ABSTRACT: We used a nutritional deprivation model to produce intrauterine growth-retarded (IGR) rat pups (birth weight = ~75% of normal). The IGR newborns evidenced a marked reduction in tolerance to > 95% O2 exposure: 10- day survival = 10/7 (21%) versus 18/36 (50%) for control pups, and LT50 = 7.2 days versus 10 days for controls (p < 0.01). Various lung parameters at birth and during O2 exposure were examined to try to define why prenatal undernutrition should compromise the survival of IGR rats in hyperoxia. We found decreased lung glutathione peroxidase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity (with normal superoxide dismutase and catalase levels) in the IGRs at birth; decreased lung disaturated phosphatidylcholine content (even more markedly decreased in 1- day premature pups); and decreased lung surface area/body weight. These factors and other features of newborn IGRs reported in the literature may help to explain how prenatal undernutrition compromises postnatal tolerance to prolonged high-O2 exposure.
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Frank, L., Lewis, P. & Garcia-Pons, T. Intrauterine Growth-Retarded Rat Pups Show Increased Susceptibility to Pulmonary O2 Toxicity. Pediatr Res 19, 281–286 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198503000-00005
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198503000-00005