Abstract
Studies in both the human and ovine near-term fetus have identified the clustering of physiologic and behavioral parameters into states. In a recent study in the human fetus a considerable decrease was found in fetal urine production during nonrapid eye movement (non-REM) compared with REM sleep. Whether this decrease was caused by decreased renal blood flow or changes in urine concentration is not known. This prompted us to investigate the relation between fetal urine production rate and electrocortical activity in the near-term ovine fetus. We hypothesized that in the ovine fetus urine production and renal blood flow during REM [comparable to low voltage electrocortical activity (LV ECoG)] would be lower than during non-REM [(high voltage (HV) ECoG)]. In eight fetal sheep between 123 and 127 d of gestation(term 147 d), ECoG, renal blood flow, urine flow, and urine osmolality were measured continuously for 6 h on 2 consecutive days. Data were analyzed into HV ECoG and LV ECoG whereafter urine flow, urine osmolality, and renal blood flow data were averaged per state. We found no significant differences in urine flow, urine osmolality, or renal blood flow between the two behavioral states in the ovine fetus. Because these data are in sharp contrast to those found in the human fetus, we conclude that the observed dissimilarities in renal responses between the human and sheep fetus add to the already known differences in behavioral states between the two species.
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Abbreviations
- HV:
-
high voltage
- LV:
-
low voltage
- ECoG:
-
electrocortical activity
- Pao2:
-
partial pressure of arterial blood O2
- Paco2:
-
partial pressure of arterial blood CO2
- PRA:
-
plasma renin activity
- REM:
-
rapid eye movement
- Sao2:
-
arterial oxygen saturation
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Jan Elstrodt for his excellent animal technical assistance, Wim Kaan for developing data analysis, and Ruurd Braaksma for development of the Automatic Urine Controller. We also wish to thank Dr. Henk Oosterhof for revision of the manuscript. The antibiotics (Zinacef) used in this study were kindly donated by Glaxo, Zeist, The Netherlands.
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Braaksma, M., Vos, J., Dassel, A. et al. Urine Production Rate and Renal Blood Flow in the Near-Term Ovine Fetus Are Not Related to High and Low Voltage Electrocortical Activity. Pediatr Res 43, 121–125 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199801000-00018
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199801000-00018
