Effect of Acute Hypoxia on Oxidative Stress Indices in Rat Offspring at Different Stages of Gestation

— Intrauterine hypoxia is the most common prenatal risk factor presenting a direct danger not only to the life of the fetus but also to the future postnatal life of the organism. The aim of this study is to reveal an association between fetal hypoxia and oxidative stress as well as to estimate the significance of gestational age and gender for the development of oxidative stress. Pregnant rats were exposed to acute hypoxia on the tenth or 20th day of pregnancy, which corresponds to the first and second trimesters of human pregnancy. In newborn rats on the second day of life and in sexually mature offspring of both sexes on the 60th day of life, the state of antioxidant protection was estimated by the content of nonprotein thiols in the blood and liver homogenate, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activity in the liver homogenate, total antioxidant activity, and ceruloplasmin level in blood plasma as well as by the intensity of lipid peroxidation in blood plasma and liver homogenate. Regardless of the gestational age at which the offspring experienced acute hypoxia numerous changes in the indices of the antioxidant protection system were recorded in newborn rats, indicating in favor of the development of oxidative stress; this can be a cause of neurological and cardiological disorders shown already in adult animals.