Effect of increasing oxygen delivery postburn on oxygen consumption and oxidant-induced lipid peroxidation in the adult sheep.

Abstract

We studied the relationship between oxygen delivery (DO2) and oxygen consumption (VO2) in the early post-burn period. Unanesthetized sheep with a 15% total body surface (TBS) third-degree burn were resuscitated back to baseline VO2 and vascular pressures. DO2 was adjusted further by infusion and removal of whole blood. The response was compared to the same maneuver in nonburned sheep. We found that increasing DO2 after burns resulted in a 32% increase in VO2, while the same maneuver in controls produced no change in VO2. We then determined whether the increase in VO2, caused by volume loading, resulted in a further increase in postburn oxidant release and lipid peroxidation measured as conjugated dienes. Plasma conjugated dienes increased significantly and equally by 30% in burns maintained at baseline VO2 vs. the increased VO2. Therefore, the increased oxygen used is not simply resulting in further oxidant damage. VO2 was maintained equally in both burned animals and controls with a decrease in DO2 by increased oxygen extraction from Hgb. We conclude that standard burn resuscitation does not restore adequate DO2 for oxygen demands. The 30% increase in VO2 achieved by increasing DO2 does not lead to a further release of oxidants from burn tissue and is therefore potentially beneficial for cell function.