Cerebral blood flow in intoxicated newborn piglets.

Ethanol exposure in the neonatal period causes impaired brain growth and altered adult behaviour in rats. One possible mechanism may be altered cerebral perfusion caused by ethanol intoxication. We assessed the effects of ethanol on cerebral blood flow and its autoregulation in 2-day-old piglets. Piglets received ethanol (1.4 g/kg) or an equivalent volume of dextrose 5% in water over 30 min. One hour later, cerebral blood flow was measured using the microsphere technique at resting, elevated, and decreased mean arterial blood pressure. Ethanol-treated piglets had total cerebral blood flows of 88 +/- 14, 82 +/- 10, and 82 +/- 12 mL X 100 g-1 X min-1 (mean +/- SE) at mean arterial blood pressures of 12.4 +/- 1.1, 15.7 +/- 1.5, and 8.2 +/- 0.9 kPa. Corresponding values in control piglets were 82 +/- 14, 78 +/- 4, and 82 +/- 7 mL X 100 g-1 X min-1 at mean arterial blood pressures of 10.5 +/- 1.5, 14.0 +/- 1.2, and 7.7 +/- 1.1 kPa. At resting arterial blood pressures, regional blood flows to basal ganglia, cortex, brainstem, and cerebellum in ethanol-treated piglets were 123 +/- 21, 90 +/- 16, 94 +/- 17, and 77 +/- 12 mL X 100 g-1 X min-1, respectively. Corresponding regional blood flows for the control piglets were 118 +/- 16, 85 +/- 15, 76 +/- 16, and 76 +/- 16 mL X 100 g-1 X min-1. Blood flow to basal ganglia was greater than to other brain regions in both ethanol-treated and control piglets (P less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)