Indirect relation between rises in oxygen consumption and left ventricular output at birth in lambs.

To examine the relation between increased newborn oxygen requirements and the postnatal rise in cardiac output, we measured left ventricular (LV) output, organ blood flows, and whole-body oxygen consumption using radioactive microspheres in late-gestation sheep fetuses and in the same animals 1 and 4 hours after cesarean section delivery. LV output rose from 264 +/- 23 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1 in fetuses to 444 +/- 33 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1 in lambs at 1 hour after delivery (p less than 0.005) and was unchanged at 4 hours after delivery. This rise in LV output was associated with a more than fourfold increase in the LV flow contribution to tissues situated distal to the ductus arteriosus (fetus, 51 +/- 9 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1; lamb, 226 +/- 22 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1; p less than 0.005), which were mainly perfused by the right ventricle in utero. However, average blood flow to body tissues was similar in fetuses (37 +/- 4 ml.min-1.100 g tissue-1), 1-hour lambs (39 +/- 4 ml.min-1.100 g tissue-1), and 4-hour lambs (40 +/- 5 ml.min-1.100 g tissue-1). Oxygen consumption increased by 58%, from 7.84 +/- 0.43 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1 in fetuses to 12.38 +/- 2.4 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1 in 1-hour lambs (p less than 0.01), and was unchanged in 4-hour lambs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)