Restricted conceptus mobility results in failure of pregnancy maintenance in mares.
Abstract: Cycling pony mares were bred and used to test the effect of restricted conceptus mobility on luteal maintenance (i.e. maternal recognition of pregnancy). In Experiment 1, uterine horns were ligated to restrict conceptus mobility to one uterine horn, Group 1; one horn plus the uterine body, Group 2; or one horn, the body and approximately 80% of the second horn, Group 3. Pregnancies were monitored with real-time ultrasonography. Four of five mares in Group 1 and two of four mares in Group 2 returned to estrus (Day 16.0 +/- 1.9 and 14.5 +/- 0.7, respectively) and subsequently lost the embryonic vesicles (Day 17.2 +/- 1.2 and 15.7 +/- 0.7, respectively). None of the four mares in Group 3 lost the vesicles. There was a significant effect of the interaction of treatment (amount of uterus available to the conceptus) and day on plasma progesterone (P) concentration (p less than 0.005). In Experiment 2, conceptus mobility was restricted to one uterine horn in two groups of mares, of which the second was treated with the synthetic progestin, Regu-Mate (allyl trenbolone). In the first group, each of three mares lost the vesicle (Day 17.3 +/- 4.3). In the second group, four of five mares maintained the pregnancies, indicating that pregnancy failure was due to the effects of declining P. These data indicate that restricted conceptus mobility results in luteolysis in the mare, and that the subsequent decline in P leads to embryonic death.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Publication Date: 1988-09-01 PubMed ID: 3179385DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod39.2.340Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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The study investigates the effects of restrained embryonic or conceptus movement on maintaining pregnancy in mares, discovering that limited movement can lead to pregnancy failure due to progesterone decline.
Research Goal and Method
- The aim of the research was to identify the impact of limited conceptus mobility on the maintenance of luteal, or maternal recognition of pregnancy in mares.
- To conduct this, two experiments were carried out on cycling pony mares. Each involved a different setup to restrict movement.
The First Experiment
- In the first experiment, the uterine horns of the mares were ligated in three different configurations to restrict the conceptus mobility to different extents.
- Group 1 restricted mobility to one horn, Group 2 included the uterine body along with one horn, and Group 3 incorporated the body, one horn, and about 80% of the second horn.
- Ultrasonography was used to monitor pregnancy. It was observed that many mares in Group 1 and 2 returned to estrus and then lost their embryonic vesicles, but none in Group 3 faced vesicle loss.
- A notable effect was seen on the amount of plasma progesterone concentration owing to the interaction of the treatment and the day.
The Second Experiment
- In the second experiment, the conceptus movement was limited to one uterine horn in two groups of mares. One group was treated with a synthetic progestin, Regu-Mate.
- It was found that all the mares in the first group lost the vesicle while most of the second group managed to maintain the pregnancy. This suggests that the failure of pregnancy was due to the decline in progesterone.
Conclusion
- The study concluded that limited conceptus mobility resulted in luteolysis in mares, and the subsequent decline in progesterone led to embryonic death.
- This highlights the crucial role of embryonic movement in maintaining pregnancy in mares and provides insights for better reproductive health management in equine species.
Cite This Article
APA
McDowell KJ, Sharp DC, Grubaugh W, Thatcher WW, Wilcox CJ.
(1988).
Restricted conceptus mobility results in failure of pregnancy maintenance in mares.
Biol Reprod, 39(2), 340-348.
https://doi.org/10.1095/biolreprod39.2.340 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Animal Department, University of Florida, Gainesville.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Female
- Fetal Movement
- Horses / physiology
- Pregnancy
- Pregnancy Maintenance
- Pregnancy, Animal / physiology
- Progesterone / analysis
- Radioimmunoassay
Citations
This article has been cited 12 times.- Lufkin H, Flores D, Raider Z, Madhavan M, Dawson M, Coronel A, Sharma D, Arora R. Pre-implantation mouse embryo movement under hormonally altered conditions.. Mol Hum Reprod 2023 Jan 31;29(2).
- Lawson EF, Grupen CG, Baker MA, Aitken RJ, Swegen A, Pollard CL, Gibb Z. Conception and early pregnancy in the mare: lipidomics the unexplored frontier.. Reprod Fertil 2022 Jan 1;3(1):R1-R18.
- Rudolf Vegas A, Podico G, Canisso IF, Bollwein H, Almiñana C, Bauersachs S. Spatiotemporal endometrial transcriptome analysis revealed the luminal epithelium as key player during initial maternal recognition of pregnancy in the mare.. Sci Rep 2021 Nov 16;11(1):22293.
- Klein C, Bruce P, Hammermueller J, Hayes T, Lillie B, Betteridge K. Transcriptional profiling of equine endometrium before, during and after capsule disintegration during normal pregnancy and after oxytocin-induced luteostasis in non-pregnant mares.. PLoS One 2021;16(10):e0257161.
- Swegen A. Maternal recognition of pregnancy in the mare: does it exist and why do we care?. Reproduction 2021 May 5;161(6):R139-R155.
- Gibson C, de Ruijter-Villani M, Bauersachs S, Stout TAE. Asynchronous Embryo Transfer Followed by Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Conceptus Membranes and Endometrium Identifies Processes Important to the Establishment of Equine Pregnancy.. Int J Mol Sci 2020 Apr 7;21(7).
- Smits K, Gansemans Y, Tilleman L, Van Nieuwerburgh F, Van De Velde M, Gerits I, Ververs C, Roels K, Govaere J, Peelman L, Deforce D, Van Soom A. Maternal Recognition of Pregnancy in the Horse: Are MicroRNAs the Secret Messengers?. Int J Mol Sci 2020 Jan 9;21(2).
- Klohonatz KM, Coleman SJ, Cameron AD, Hess AM, Reed KJ, Canovas A, Medrano JF, Islas-Trejo AD, Kalbfleisch T, Bouma GJ, Bruemmer JE. Non-Coding RNA Sequencing of Equine Endometrium During Maternal Recognition of Pregnancy.. Genes (Basel) 2019 Oct 18;10(10).
- Klohonatz KM, Coleman SJ, Islas-Trejo AD, Medrano JF, Hess AM, Kalbfleisch T, Thomas MG, Bouma GJ, Bruemmer JE. Coding RNA Sequencing of Equine Endometrium during Maternal Recognition of Pregnancy.. Genes (Basel) 2019 Sep 25;10(10).
- Klohonatz KM, Nulton LC, Hess AM, Bouma GJ, Bruemmer JE. The role of embryo contact and focal adhesions during maternal recognition of pregnancy.. PLoS One 2019;14(3):e0213322.
- Bonometti S, Menarim BC, Reinholt BM, Ealy AD, Johnson SE. Growth factor modulation of equine trophoblast mitosis and prostaglandin gene expression.. J Anim Sci 2019 Feb 1;97(2):865-873.
- Aurich C, Budik S. Early pregnancy in the horse revisited - does exception prove the rule?. J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2015;6:50.
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