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Chronic intrauterine hypoxia alters neurodevelopment in fetal sheep
- Source :
- The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 157:1982-1991
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2019.
-
Abstract
- We tested the hypothesis that chronic fetal hypoxia, at a severity present in many types of congenital heart disease, would lead to abnormal neurodevelopment.Eight mid-gestation fetal sheep were cannulated onto a pumpless extracorporeal oxygenator via the umbilical vessels and supported in a fluid-filled environment for 22 ± 2 days under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. Total parenteral nutrition was provided. Control fetuses (n = 7) were harvested at gestational age 133 ± 4 days. At necropsy, brains were fixed for histopathology. Neurons were quantified in white matter tracts, and the thickness of the external granular layer of the cerebellum was measured to assess neuronal migration. Capillary density and myelination were quantified in white matter. Data were analyzed with unpaired Student t tests or 1-way analysis of variance, as appropriate.Oxygen delivery was reduced in hypoxic fetuses (15.6 ± 1.8 mL/kg/min vs 24.3 ± 2.3 mL/kg/min, P .01), but umbilical blood flow and caloric delivery were not different between the 2 groups. Compared with normoxic and control animals, hypoxic fetuses had reduced neuronal density and increased external granular layer thickness. Compared with normoxic and control animals, hypoxic fetuses had increased capillary density in white matter. Cortical myelin integrity score was lower in the hypoxic group compared with normoxic and control animals. There was a significant negative correlation between myelin integrity and capillary density.Chronic fetal hypoxia leads to white matter hyper-vascularity, decreased neuronal density, and impaired myelination, similar to the neuropathologic findings observed in children with congenital heart disease. These findings support the hypothesis that fetal hypoxia, even in the setting of normal caloric delivery, impairs neurodevelopment.
- Subjects :
- Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
medicine.medical_specialty
Cerebellum
Heart disease
Neurogenesis
Neovascularization, Physiologic
Physiology
Apoptosis
Gestational Age
030204 cardiovascular system & hematology
Intrauterine hypoxia
Fetal Hypoxia
Fetal Development
White matter
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Pregnancy
Animals
Medicine
Myelin Sheath
Sheep, Domestic
Neurons
Brain Diseases
Fetus
business.industry
Brain
Gestational age
Fetal Blood
medicine.disease
Capillaries
Oxygen
Disease Models, Animal
medicine.anatomical_structure
Parenteral nutrition
030228 respiratory system
Chronic Disease
Female
Surgery
Histopathology
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00225223
- Volume :
- 157
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....53736c8233b06ba9220919988fc060f0