Plasma-nor-adrenalin and adrenalin concentrations in feto-maternal blood: Their relations to feto-maternal endocrine levels, cardiotocographic and mechanocardiographic values, and umbilical arterial blood biochemical profilings

Maternal and fetal endocrine stress response at vaginal delivery with and without an epidural block

“…The cortisol levels. roughly tenfold higher concentration is in accordance with previous studies [10,13]. In Epidural anesthesia in normal parturients does agreement with two recently published reports not seem to influence the fetal endocrine stress [ 1?…”

Plasma free and sulfoconjugated catecholamines during acute asphyxia in the sheep fetus — relation to cardiovascular parameters

“…The fetal cardiovascular system reacts with a deceleration of the heart rate and an increase in blood pressure, reflecting a simultaneous activation of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic system [24]. Fetal acidosis and low Apgar values are associated with increased concentrations of free norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E) and dopamine (DA) in umbilical cord blood [17,23,25], while prolonged as well as repetitive episodes of asphyxia result in a rise of plasma free catecholamines in sheep fetuses [10,11,13,20]. Circulating catecholamines have not been measured during and after one short period of complete reduction of uterine blood flow.…”

Catecholamines in arterial and venous umbilical blood: placental extraction, correlation with fetal hypoxia, and transcutaneous partial oxygen tension

“…Investigations performed in animal experiments [6,7,16,17,19] as well as in man [2,3,9,10,18,20,25] suggest that fetal hypoxia is associated with an increase in circulating catecholamines due to sympathoadrenal stimulation. The correlation between catecholamines and cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic changes as determined during intrapartum fetal monitoring by means of cardiotocography (CTG), fetal blood gas analysis, and measurement of the transcutaneous partial oxygen tension (tcpC^) has not yet been exhaustively investigated.…”

“…These gaps in our knowledge are attributable to some extent to methodological factors. The older (fluorimetric) tests, which require blood volumes of 15-20ml, are restricted to the detection of epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) in mixed cord blood [3,22] or venous umbilical blood [18,23], and some studies only measured total catecholamines [2,20] without further differentiation. In contrast, the radioenzymatic single-isotope technique [8,29] allows the specific measurement of E, NE and the third catecholamine, dopamine (D), in 0.1-0.2 ml plasma.…”