[Asphyxial shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in animal experiments. 1. Histological picture (author's transl)].

The effects of subacute intra-uterine hypoxia on the haemostatic system of 205 foetuses from 49 pregnant rabbits were studied by a standardised experimental arrangement, with particular reference being made to intravascular precipitation of fibrin. The asphyxial shock thus induced was accompanied by almost all the rabbit foetuses by disseminated intravascular coagulation by which the central organs were more strongly affected, as compared to peripheral organs also restricted by the shock. The pathophysiological processes which were found to take place in the lungs and placentas of the experimental animals proved different from those in man, which was attributable to species-related differences.