Umbilical arterial S-nitrosothiols in stressed newborns: role in perinatal circulatory transition.

S-Nitrosothiols are potent endogenous vasodilators recently found to be in greater concentrations in fetal umbilical venous than arterial blood. We hypothesized that neonatal increases in SNOs may be involved in the normal human perinatal circulatory transition. Paired human umbilical artery and vein plasma samples were collected after birth. S-Nitrosothiol concentrations were measured as NO after photolysis--and NO3- after reduction in vanadium chloride--by chemiluminescence. Normal umbilical arterial serum SNO levels were nearly twice those of matched venous samples but were low in infants who did not transition normally to neonatal circulation. There was no difference in the concentration of NO3- between the normal and depressed infants. The parallel failure of some fetuses to switch both to a normal arteriovenous SNO relationship and a normal clinical post-partum state suggests that SNOs may be involved in the perinatal circulatory transition.