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. 2013 Jan;20(1):33-8.
doi: 10.1177/1933719112459224. Epub 2012 Sep 18.

Fetal pulmonary arterial vascular impedance reflects changes in fetal oxygenation at near-term gestation in a nonhuman primate model

Amaryllis Maria Elpida Arraut  1 , Antonio E Frias, Theodore R Hobbs, Cindy McEvoy, Eliot R Spindel, Juha Rasanen
Affiliations

Fetal pulmonary arterial vascular impedance reflects changes in fetal oxygenation at near-term gestation in a nonhuman primate model

Amaryllis Maria Elpida Arraut et al. Reprod Sci. 2013 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that fetal pulmonary arterial circulation reacts to changes in fetal oxygenation status at near-term gestation.

Study design: A total of 20 rhesus macaques underwent fetal Doppler ultrasonography at near-term gestation. Right pulmonary artery (RPA), umbilical artery (UA), ductus arteriosus (DA), and ductus venosus (DV) blood velocity waveforms were obtained, and pulsatility index (PI) values were calculated. Fetal right and left ventricular cardiac outputs were determined. Ultrasonographic data were collected during 3 maternal oxygenation states: room air (baseline), hyperoxemia, and hypoxemia.

Results: Fetal RPA PI values increased (P < .05) during maternal hypoxemia and decreased (P < .05) during maternal hyperoxemia, compared with baseline. Maternal hyperoxemia increased (P < .05) DA PI values from baseline. Fetal cardiac outputs, UA, and DV PI values were not affected.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that at near-term gestation, fetal pulmonary arterial circulation is a dynamic vascular bed that reflects acute and short-term changes in fetal oxygenation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Right pulmonary artery blood velocity waveform tracing at A, baseline [pulsatility index (PI) = 10.7], B, hypoxemia (PI = 100.1), and C, hyperoxemia (PI = 2.66).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Right pulmonary artery (RPA) pulsatility index (PI) values at baseline, during hypoxemia, and hyperoxemia.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Ductus arteriosus blood velocity waveform tracing at A, baseline (pulsatility index [PI] =2.4), B, hypoxemia (PI = 2.4), and C, hyperoxemia (PI = 3.1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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