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Meconium and fetal hypoxia: some experimental observations and clinical relevance
Author(s) -
Westgate Jenny A.,
Bennet Laura,
Gunn Alistair J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2002.01055.x
Subject(s) - meconium , amniotic fluid , hypoxia (environmental) , medicine , metabolic acidosis , fetus , anesthesia , clinical significance , obstetrics , physiology , acidosis , pregnancy , biology , chemistry , oxygen , genetics , organic chemistry
In an experimental study, chemically sympathectomised near term fetal sheep and a control group were subjected to repeated episodes of acute hypoxia. Despite severe hypotension and metabolic acidosis, no animal in the control group had meconium‐stained amniotic fluid, whereas every animal in the sympathectomised group had heavily meconium‐stained amniotic fluid at the end of the experiments. These data and the available literature do not support a direct association between acute hypoxia and meconium‐stained amniotic fluid but suggest that a reduction in sympathetic neural tone must be a component of meconium passage. Clinical and experimental data on the occurrence of meconium‐stained amniotic fluid are reviewed.