Baroreceptors in Preterm Infants: Their Relationship to Maturity and Disease

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Abstract
Using passive tipping to a 45.degree. head-up position, an attempt was made to elicit reflex vasoconstriction in 13 non-distressed preterm infants and 27 infants with hyaline membrane disease, all between 26-38 wk gestation. An increase in vascular tone associated with a significant reduction in peripheral blood-flow was found in 11 of 13 non-distressed infants, while the same response was lacking in 23 of 27 distressed infants. No infant demonstrated significant tachycardia with tilting and the non-distressed infants failed to maintain their mean aortic blood-pressure during tilting. Reflex control of vascular tone apparently is present in non-distressed infants as early as 26 wk gestation but not in infants with hyaline membrane disease; possibly because of a maximal increase in vascular tone as a response to illness. Significantly higher resting peripheral vascular resistance and lower peripheral blood-flow are found in infants with this disease.