This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Blasi, I. Articles by Facchinetti, F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Blasi, I. Articles by Richardson, B. Articles by Volpe, A. Articles by Facchinetti, F. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Feto-Maternal Safety of Intracervical Sodium Nitroprusside Application in Sheep

Mother-Infant Department, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

Bryan Richardson, MD

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

Annibale Volpe, MD

Mother-Infant Department, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

Fabio Facchinetti, MD

Mother-Infant Department, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy, facchinetti.fabio{at}unimore.it

The feto-maternal safety of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) administration in the cervix of pregnant sheep is evaluated. Chronically catheterized pregnant sheep at 0.9 gestation were divided into 2 groups that received 0.1 mg/kg maternal body weight of SNP gel (2%) or placebo into the internal cervical os. SNP or placebo gel was administered at 9 AM with both maternal and fetal blood gas/pH, and cardiovascular parameters were monitored for 6 hours. Except for a slight transient decrease of maternal oxygen and meta-hemoglobin content, and fetal oxygen content in the SNP group, no other significant changes were observed. However, such changes are minimal and unlikely to be of any clinical significance. Moreover, nitric oxide metabolites were unchanged in both maternal and fetal circulations.These data demonstrate few, if any, effects of intrauterine SNP administration on both cellular oxygenation and cardiovascular indexes. Thus, SNP treatment, once applied into the cervix, could be considered a safe procedure.

Key Words: Sodium nitroprusside • fetal safety • cervical ripening • labor induction.

Reproductive Sciences, Vol. 15, No. 7, 690-695 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1933719108317580


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?