Table 4.

Arterial blood gases at d15 and d30: Dex- or RA-treated animals at d15 had a respiratory acidosis with hypercarbia (*p < 0.01 vs. saline/controls) and this was maintained in Dex-treated animals at d30 (*p < 0.01 vs. saline/controls). Day 15 animals given Dex + RA did not have respiratory acidosis compared to Dex alone pups (^†p < 0.05 vs. Dex alone). Animals at d30 that had been given Dex + RA showed a correction of pH and pCO2 (^†p < 0.05 vs. Dex). Only d15 RA-treated animals had significantly lower pO2 values compared to controls (**p < 0.05 vs. saline/controls). Values are expressed mean ± SE.

Treatment group	pH	pCO2	pO2
Day 15
Control/Saline (n = 6)	7.39 ± 0.03	41.9 ± 3.2	89.8 ± 6.4
Retinoic acid (RA) (n = 4)	7.29 ± 0.03*	54.2 ± 1.6*	67.3 ± 7.1**
Dexamethasone (Dex) (n = 7)	7.27 ± 0.01*	56.3 ± 3.4*	76.0 ± 9.4
Dex + RA (n = 4)	7.31 ± 0.04†	50.1 ± 6.0†	79.3 ± 2.9
Day 30
Control/Saline (n = 12)	7.38 ± 0.01	47.7 ± 1.0	83.5 ± 2.8
Retinoic acid (RA) (n = 10)	7.38 ± 0.01	50.0 ± 1.5	80.1 ± 3.7
Dexamethasone (Dex) (n = 12)	7.33 ± 0.01*	55.5 ± 1.4*	80.9 ± 5.3
Dex + RA (n = 6)	7.38 ± 0.02†	48.5 ± 2.0†	83.7 ± 3.9