• S Tracey Björkman, Kelley A Foster, Stephanie M O'driscoll, Genevieve N Healy, Barbara E Lingwood, Chris Burke, and Paul B Colditz.
• Perinatal Research Centre, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4029, Australia. tbjorkman@somc.uq.edu.au
• Brain Res. 2006 Jul 19; 1100 (1): 110-7.

AbstractA comparison of a constant (continuous delivery of 4% FiO2) and a variable (initial 5% FiO2 with adjustments to induce low amplitude EEG (LAEEG) and hypotension) hypoxic/ischemic insult was performed to determine which insult was more effective in producing a consistent degree of survivable neuropathological damage in a newborn piglet model of perinatal asphyxia. We also examined which physiological responses contributed to this outcome. Thirty-nine 1-day-old piglets were subjected to either a constant hypoxic/ischemic insult of 30- to 37-min duration or a variable hypoxic/ischemic insult of 30-min low peak amplitude EEG (LAEEG <5 microV) including 10 min of low mean arterial blood pressure (MABP <70% of baseline). Control animals (n = 6) received 21% FiO2 for the duration of the experiment. At 72 h, the piglets were euthanased, their brains removed and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and assessed for hypoxic/ischemic injury by histological analysis. Based on neuropathology scores, piglets were grouped as undamaged or damaged; piglets that did not survive to 72 h were grouped separately as dead. The variable insult resulted in a greater number of piglets with neuropathological damage (undamaged = 12.5%, damaged = 68.75%, dead = 18.75%) while the constant insult resulted in a large proportion of undamaged piglets (undamaged = 50%, damaged = 22.2%, dead = 27.8%). A hypoxic insult varied to maintain peak amplitude EEG <5 microV results in a greater number of survivors with a consistent degree of neuropathological damage than a constant hypoxic insult. Physiological variables MABP, LAEEG, pH and arterial base excess were found to be significantly associated with neuropathological outcome.

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