Maintenance of cerebral circulation during hemorrhagic hypotension in newborn pigs: role of prostanoids.

The possibility that the prostanoid system contributes to the capability of the newborn piglet to maintain cerebral blood flow and cerebral metabolic rate during hypotension was investigated. The effect of hemorrhage on net (arterial-to-venous) cerebral prostacyclin production and the effects of indomethacin on cerebral hemodynamic response to hemorrhage and on the cerebral oxygen utilization following hemorrhage were determined in chronically instrumented, unanesthetized newborn pigs. Hemorrhage decreased arterial pressure about 35% but did not affect cerebral blood flow or cerebral O2 consumption. Hemorrhage was accompanied by an increase in net cerebral 6-keto-PGF1 alpha production from 4.0 +/- 1.1 to 15.3 +/- 4.9 ng/100g X min (mean +/- SEM). Indomethacin treatment of piglets following hemorrhage inhibited the net cerebral production of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha and caused a decrease in blood flow (approximately equal to 40%) to all brain regions within 20 minutes. The decrease in cerebral blood flow was the result of an increase in cerebral vascular resistance of 57 and 180%, 20 and 40 minutes post treatment, respectively. Cerebral O2 consumption was reduced from 2.5 +/- 0.3 ml/100 g X min to 1.5 +/- 0.3 ml/100 g X min 20 minutes following treatment of hemorrhaged piglets with indomethacin and to 1.1 +/- 0.3 ml/100 g X min 40 minutes after treatment. Six of 8 piglets for whom the data were recorded that were administered indomethacin following hemorrhage became comatose with cerebral O2 consumption of 0.4 +/- 0.1 ml O2/100 g X min by 40 minutes after treatment. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the prostanoid system contributes to the maintenance of cerebral blood flow and cerebral metabolic rate during hypotension in the newborn.