Placental oxygen consumption in vitro: I. Baseline studies

Abstract

Barcroft-Warburg respirometric observations of fresh in vitro placental tissue have been reported as part of a correlative study of the effects of various clinical features upon placental metabolism and their relationship to fetal development and survival.Data are presented to illustrate the rates of decay of placental activity under various conditions of storage, indicating the urgent need to study the material in the freshest possible state. Similarly, degradation occurs so rapidly during manometric studies that consecutive observations for the purpose of determining the effects of adding substrates are interdicted.The reduction of the oxygen concentration of the gas phase produces a corresponding, although nonlinear, reduction in oxygen uptake.Normal term placentas consume 2.02 ± 0.03 μl of oxygen per milligram of dry weight per hour. A linear decline is seen from early pregnancy to term.Numerous clinical factors are correlated with placental oxygen consumption, but, except in rare instances, the data are not sufficiently numerous to allow for statistical verification of observed trends.