Maternal responses to long-term hypoxemia in sheep.

To determine the maternal cardiovascular responses to long-term hypoxemia, we studied three groups of animals: 1) pregnant ewes (n = 20) at 110-115 days gestation subjected to hypoxia for up to 28 days; 2) pregnant ewes (n = 4) that served as normoxic controls; and 3) nonpregnant ewes (n = 6) subjected to hypoxemia for up to 28 days. We measured mean arterial pressure, heart rate, uterine blood flow, and uterine vascular resistance continuously for 1 h/day while the ewe was exposed to an inspired O2 fraction of 12-13% for at least 17 days. Arterial PO2, O2 saturation, hemoglobin, arteriovenous O2 difference, and uterine O2 uptake were measured daily while blood volume and erythropoietin concentration were measured weekly. In the pregnant hypoxic group arterial PO2 decreased from a control value of 101.5 +/- 5.1 to 59.2 +/- 5.1 Torr within a few minutes, where it remained throughout the study. The hemoglobin concentration increased from 8.9 +/- 0.5 to 10.0 +/- 0.5 g/dl within 24 h where it remained, whereas erythropoietin concentration increased from 16.6 +/- 2.1 to 39.1 +/- 7.8 mU/ml at 24 h but then returned to near-control levels. Arterial glucose concentration, mean arterial pressure, and cardiac output decreased slightly but insignificantly. In contrast, body weight, heart rate, blood volume, uterine blood flow, uterine O2 flow, uteroplacental O2 uptake, and the concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol remained relatively constant. Thus both pregnant and nonpregnant sheep experience relatively minor cardiovascular and hematologic responses in response to long-term hypoxemia of moderate severity.