Abstract
Hyaline membrane disease is associated with a functional and possibly a quantitiative deficiency in surfactant. It has been suggested that this is caused by hypoperfusion of the lungs. This work demonstrates that when the left pulmonary artery is occluded in the fetal state and the animal is permitted to breathe, there is no change in surfactant. Nine fetal lambs varying in gestational age from 132–147 days were partially delivered by Caesarian section. With the umbilical circulation intact, a thoracotomy was performed under local anesthesia and the left main pulmonary artery ligated. The chest was closed and 45 minutes postligation, the unbilical cord was clamped and the animal was allowed to breathe. The lambs were sacrificed and the lungs removed 8 hours (mean) after ligation, Heart rate, blood pressure, pH, PCO2 and PO2 were monitored through a carotid catheter to evaluate the lamb's condition throughout the experiment. DNA total and compositional phospholipid analysis were performed on both the right and left lung of each animal. There was no significant differences between the non-lighted and ligated lungs in the total amount of phospholipid/mg DNA, phosphatidylcholine/mg DNA, DNA/gm wet wt. and pressure volume characteristics. These results indicate that in the fetal lamb short term pulmonary ischemia within the last 10% of gestation, does not affect pulmonary surfactant.
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Bloom, R., Parmentier, C., Parks, C. et al. Pulmonary ischemia and surfactant in the neonatal lung. Pediatr Res 5, 428 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00240
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00240