Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism in Ovine Fetuses During Asphyxia Resulting in Seizures

Regional brain blood flow and cerebral hemispheric oxygen consumption during acute hypoxaemia in the llama fetus

“…In fact, in the sheep fetus cerebral blood flow matches the oxygen extraction in such a way that cerebral O 2 consumption remains constant until relatively severe degrees of hypoxaemia, such as those associated with an ascending aortic oxygen content of ca 2.2 ml dl −1 (Field et al 1990). In the sheep fetus, hypoxaemia below this level leads to a progressive fall in fetal cerebral oxygen consumption (Field et al 1990) and values persistently below ∼50 % of basal cerebral O 2 consumption result in cerebral damage, as evidenced by seizure activity (Ball et al 1994) and/or neuronal death (Gunn et al 1992; Parer, 1998).…”