At 103 to 104 days gestation, fetuses were randomly assigned to sham occlusion followed by normothermia (sham-normothermia, n=8), or whole-body cooling for 72 hours (sham-hypothermia, n=8), or umbilical cord occlusion for 25 minutes, followed by sham hypothermia (occlusion-normothermia, n=12), or whole-body cooling started from 30 minutes (occlusion-early hypothermia, n=10), or 5 hours (occlusion-delayed hypothermia, n=7) after occlusion and continued for 72 hours. Mild whole-body cooling was induced by circulating cold water through the cooling coil. Seven days after occlusion, the ewes and fetuses were killed.Mean arterial pressure, blood gases, EEG activity, and temperature were recorded throughout the experiment. EEG power and spectral Background and Purpose-Electroencephalographic recovery is predictive of outcome after perinatal hypoxia-ischemia, but it is unknown whether early changes in electroencephalographic can predict the response to therapeutic hypothermia in the preterm brain. Methods-0.7 gestation fetal sheep received umbilical cord occlusion or sham occlusion for 25 minutes, followed by sham hypothermia or whole-body cooling started either 30 minutes or 5 hours after occlusion and continued for 72 hours. Results-Early but not delayed hypothermia reduced neuronal loss and microglial induction in the striatum, with faster recovery of spectral edge frequency, reduced seizure burden, and less suppression of electroencephalographic amplitude (P<0.05).
Conclusions-Recovery
ImmunohistochemistryBrain sections were stained for NeuN (neuronal survival) and IB4 (activated microglia) in the caudate nucleus and putamen, and positive cells were counted stereologically.
Statistical AnalysisData were evaluated by repeated measures ANCOVA (SPSS v22, SPSS Inc, IL) and Sidak post hoc analysis. The within subjects' correlation was assessed between EEG amplitude (μV) and extradural temperature. Statistical significance was accepted at P<0.05.
Results
Blood Composition, Arterial Pressure, and Extradural TemperatureUmbilical cord occlusion was associated with profound hypoxia, mixed metabolic and respiratory acidosis, and hypotension, with rapid recovery after release of occlusion. Hypothermia was associated with a small increase in pH and glucose and a lower PaCO 2 compared with occlusion-normothermia (Table I in the online-only Data Supplement) and no effect on mean arterial pressure (Table II in
EEG Power and SEFOcclusion was associated with suppressed EEG power until 84 hours after asphyxia in the occlusion-normothermia group and 72 hours in both hypothermia groups (P<0.05; versus sham-normothermia; Figure 1). Compared with occlusionnormothermia, EEG power was reduced from 1 to 12 hours with early hypothermia, and 6 to 12 hours with delayed hypothermia (P<0.05). Delayed hypothermia was associated with suppressed EEG power compared with early hypothermia from 24 to 30 hours (P<0.05). SEF was significantly suppressed with occlusion-normothermia until 72 hours after occlusion compared with sham-normothermia (P<0.05;...