PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLACENTAL TRANSFER,
Abstract
A biophysicochemical model of certain maternal-fetal circulatory and metabolic relations was constructed for the purpose of a rigorous extra-uterine study of the transfer of respiratory gases and other elements across the placental membrane. The model was subsequently analyzed by a mathematical method for the minimization of a chemical free-energy function subject to constraints relating to mass, charge and phase transfer. As a preliminary investigation of the placental phenomenon, the model was applied to the representation of the exchanges of respiratory gases occurring between the venous and arterial sides of the total air-blood system. The model indicates a greater acidity for the fetal than for the maternal erythrocite intracellular medium. This feature, combined with other aspects of the results, could explain the lower oxygen saturation of fetal hemoglobin in utero, and also suggests that the fetal oxygen environment is not so inimical or stressful to the fetus as previously hypthesized. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0606691
Entities
People
- Edward C. DeLand
- J. C. Dehaven
- N. S. Assali
- W. Manson
Organizations
- RAND Corporation