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Topic:Fetal Health
Fetal health in horses encompasses the study of the development and well-being of the equine fetus during gestation. This area of research focuses on understanding the physiological processes that occur from conception to birth, including fetal growth, placental function, and maternal-fetal interactions. Factors influencing fetal health can include genetics, nutrition, environmental conditions, and maternal health status. Monitoring fetal health is important for identifying potential complications such as developmental abnormalities or pregnancy loss. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the mechanisms, assessment methods, and implications of fetal health in equine reproduction.
Germ cell proliferations in the fetal horse ovary. During the 340 day pregnancy of the horse, the germ cells in the fetal ovary showed a meiotic prophase which began in days 60-70 and might be prolonged after day 200. Three or four successive oogonial mitotic proliferations passed into the meiotic prophase but the great majority of the oocytes first involved degenerated, and no appreciable numbers of primordial follicles were left behind. At 150 days of pregnancy and again at 197 days, oocytes in early meiotic stages filled the ovarian cortex. Primordial follicles were present, but rare. As the prophase gradually came to an end, groups of oocy...
Studies on the equine placenta. III. Ultrastructure of the uterine glands and the overlying trophoblast. Ultrastructural studies of the uterine glands at intervals during pregnancy in the mare show that secretory activity continues after formation of the placental exchange units. The nature of the glandular secretion appeared initially to be proteinaceous, but cellular debris was also present during the last third of gestation. These secretions were absorbed by the trophoblast overlying the mouths of the glands. The fate secretions and their significance for the fetus and placenta are unknown.
A critical review of current methods for induction of parturition in the mare. The efficacy and safety of oxytocin, dexamethasone and prostaglandin, used alone or in combination as inducing agents, are discussed. It is contended that insufficient evidence exists to support the routine application of any of these methods in practice. Oxytocin has been the most widely used and it is claimed by some to be free from side effects. However, the synthetic prostaglandin analogue, fluprostenol, seems to pose the least risk to the foetus and dexamethasone appears to be either ineffective, or too dangerous to use at all. The main indications for induced foaling are managerial conve...
Equine herpesviruses. Experimental infection of a foetus with type 2. Intrauterine infection of pregnant mare with equine herpesvirus type 2 (EHV 2) did not result in foetal abortion, stillbirth or recognisable disease. Collection of uterine fluid by allantocentesis or amniocentesis 107 days after inoculation confirmed that intrauterine infection was established. EHV 2 was isolated from both allantoic and amniotic fluid separately collected at the time of elective Caesarean section 156 days after inoculation and virus neutralising antibody to EHV 2 was present in the foal's presuckle serum at birth. A very mild clinical disease, characterised by a scant, mucous ...
Influence of foetal genotype on the follicle-stimulating hormone:luteinizing hormone ratio of pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin. Rat testicular radioreceptor assays specific for FSH and LH were used to determine the FSH:LH ratio of PMSG produced by horse, donkey, mule and hinny conceptuses. Measurements of FSH and LH activities in PMSG produced both in vivo and in vitro by the four types of conceptuses showed that the genotype of the foetus markedly influences the FSH:LH ratio of PMSG. The FSH:LH ratio of PMSG produced by the horse conceptus was around unity whereas the ratio of PMSG produced by the donkey conceptus was as low as 0-2. Furthermore, the hybrid mule and hinny conceptuses both produced PMSG with an FSH:LH r...
Fetal electrocardiography in the mare as a practical aid to diagnosing singleton and twin pregnancy. Fetal electrocardiography (FECG) in the mare has been investigated by several workers (Holmes and Darke 1968, Kanagawa and others 1967). This short paper seeks to evaluate previous work, present new findings, and provide a practical technique enabling veterinary surgeons to diagnose singleton and twin pregnancies in the latter part of pregnancy.
Non-surgical correction of a uterine torsion in the mare. A case of uterine torsion is described and its correction under general anaesthesia by a method described by Schaffer for the cow. The degree of torsion was 180 degrees and in a clockwise direction. After correction the foal was found to be alive and in anterior presentation and ventral position; it was born normally 84 days later.
Equine herpesviruses: type 3 as an abortigenic agent. The inoculation of equine herpesvirus type 3 (EHV3) strain 65/61 into the amniotic cavity of a mare 6-7 months pregnant resulted in abortion 11 days later. Following abortion typical lesions of coital exanthema were not observed in the genital tract of the mare, nor was EHV3 isolated from her. Serological evidence, however, indicated that the mare was infected with EHV3 following inoculation. Grossly the foetal disease was characterised by placentitis, focal ulcerative dermatitis, focal necrosis of the lungs and a striking diptheritic gastritis. Histological findings were interstitial pneumoni...
Dropsy of the fetal sacs in mares: induced and spontaneous abortion. Eight cases of severe dropsy of the fetal sacs have been observed in mares. All were in multiparous mares whose ages ranged from five to 20 years and who were 7 1/2 to 10 3/4 months pregnant. Abortion started spontaneously in four cases and had to be induced in the remaining four by manual dilation of the cervix, rupture of the tough allantochorion and the siphoning off of 120 to 220 litres of allantoic fluid. The amnion was normal. Dystocia, due to uterine inertia, occurred in all eight cases, one hydrocephalic fetus needing fetotomy. All fetuses were alive at delivery although four were tera...
Techniques and hazards of embryo manipulation and induction of parturition. Recent advances in reproductive physiology offer ways for exploiting superior, female cattle and for manipulating physiological events such as parturition. The techniques involved in these advances and their associated hazards are the subject of this review.
Some assay restrictions on inferences made from determining hormones in horses, cows, and their fetuses. Often in developing hormone assays, hormones that may interfere with the assay by cross-reaction are not available for testing the validity of the assay. For example, horse TSH was unavailable to test for cross-reaction in an LH radioimmunoassay (RIA). The authors devised an indirect means of accomplishing the same goal, and the evidence from the indirect test of cross-reaction was at least as persuasive as a direct test might have been. Other examples are given of experiments where extensive effort was devoted to validation of steroid RIA, but there were substantial quantitative differences i...
Purification and characterization of equine infectious anemia virus. EIA virus was purified from equine fetal kidney cell cultures by PEG-precipitation, two sucrose-gradient sedimentations (5-30 per cent) and (25 to 60 per cent) centrifugation, using the immunodiffusion test to follow the procedure. Purified EIA virus had a density (20 degrees C) of 1.162 and a sedimentation constant of S20w=656. electron microscopy revealed a particle of about 100 nm in diameter with a very flexible but usually spherical shape. The dense core may be at various locations inside the membrane bound particle.
Release of prostaglandin F-2alpha during foaling in mares. The concentrations of PGF-2alpha in the peripheral blood of five foaling mares were measured by radioimmunoassay. Low levels of PGF-2alpha were detected as early as 1 week before foaling in two of the mares. These levels increased steadily, reaching a peak (1-74 +/- 0-44 ng/ml) during fetal expulsion. A relatively high PGF-2alpha level was found in samples collected 60 min after foaling.
[Concerning the toxicity of parbendazole (Helmatac 30) to horses and ponies (author’s transl)]. The toxicity of parbendazole in different doses was investigated with 52 horses and 16 ponies, in twelve groups. Side effects observed with the anthelmintic were laxation (soft dung, diarrhoea), anorexia, and listlessness. The seriousness of these symptoms depended greatly on the dose used. Half the therapeutic dose of parbendazole (2.5 to 3.75 mg/kg) administered on two consecutive days led, as a rule, to only slight toxic symptoms and proved highly effective with regard to gastro-intestinal nematodes occurring in horses and ponies. The utilisation of "standard powders" (not commercially avai...
Transfer of gases and metabolites in the equine placenta: a comparison with other species. Mares and fetuses with indwelling catheters in the umbilical and uterine vessels have been used to monitor transplacental blood gas tensions, pH, O2 affinities and the concentration of various metabolites in fetal and maternal blood during late gestation. Measurements of umbilical and uterine blood flows and arterio-venous differences enabled the uptake of O2 and glucose by the fetus and the uterus to be estimated. The present findings are compared with those from other species in comparable conditions.
Some aspects of endometrial cup formation and PMSG production. Two females of heterosexual pairs of chimaeric horse twins were fertilized by their co-twin brother and PMSG production examined during gestation. Four pregnancies developed in one mare and two in the other. The levels of PMSG were high in both mares and remained detectable in the peripheral blood until 220 and 265 days of gestation. The fetal membranes of one mare contained remnants of cup secretion with PMSG activity at term. The findings support the thesis of Allen & Moor (1972) that the endometrial cups are of fetal origin and that they are destroyed by immunological mechanisms.
Germ cell development and the meiotic prophase in the fetal horse ovary. A histological study of the developing germinal epithelium in the fetal horse ovary shows an enormous wastage of oocytes during the meiotic phase, between Days 73 and 150 of pregnancy. The first groups of oocytes to enter this phage undergo mass degeneration and eventually disappear; few, if any, oocytes develop to primordial follicles. Peripheral oogonia, dividing by mitosis, give rise to more oocytes which pass through the same changes and are also reduced by degeneration, but by Day 150 primordial follicles are fairly common.
Plasma progestagens and oestrogens in fetus and mother in late pregnancy. Normal Thoroughbred and catheterized Pony mares and their fetuses were used. Fetal oestrogen and progestagen concentrations in late gestation were much higher than maternal values. A major feature of the umbilical steroid concentrations was a large venous-arterial difference in progestagens and total oestrogens throughout late gestation which may indicate a metabolic cycle in the fetus between progesterone and other steroid metabolites. Metabolites of 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone were present in high concentrations in maternal and fetal plasma. In Thoroughbreds, and to a lesser extent in Pony m...
Fine structure of the gonads of the horse and its functional implications. Light and electron microscopic studies of the gonads of the fetal horse have shown that, in their hypertrophic condition which begins during the 3rd month, the interstitial cells contain large amounts of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, suggesting a secretory activity. Hydroxylating activity which was cytochrome P-450-dependent was observed in the fetal testis and may be involved in steroid biosynthesis.
Ultrastructural development of the equine placenta. Microcotyledons, which are a distinctive feature of the mature equine placenta, are fully formed by Day 150 of gestation. The fetal component of each microcotyledon is developed from several primary folds of trophoblast which become elaborately subdivided as gestation proceeds. These changes are reflected in the structure of the maternal crypts, which receive the fetal villi. Between Days 60 and 150 of gestation the maternal epithelium is greatly reduced in height. No such change occurs on the fetal side of the placenta, but between Days 100 and 250 a progressive indentation of the epithelium ...
Embryological studies on the dartmoor pony during the first third of gestation. A sequence of ten known-age embryos recovered from Dartmoor Ponies during the first 4 months of gestation is described. Changes in size, shape and vascularity of the conceptus are recorded, as well as the growth and decline of the yolk-sac and the succeeding establishment of the allantochorion. The progress of equine somatogenesis is compared with that of the pig which it lags on average of about 4 days. Some quantitative data are presented.
