Document Detail


Fetal movements during late gestation in the pig: a longitudinal ultrasonographic study.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20197199     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Repeated ultrasonographic observation of fetal movements was used to distinguish movement patterns and to investigate the rate of occurrence and temporal organisation of these patterns (rest-activity cycles) during the last three weeks of gestation in the pig. By means of transabdominal ultrasonography with a 3.5MHz linear array transducer, motility in ten different fetuses (one per sow) was studied. Six (median; range 4-6) 1h recordings were made per fetus at 3-5 day intervals. Fifty-five 1h recordings were available for analysis. The occurrence of fetal general movements (GM), isolated head (HM), forelimb movements (LM), and rotations (ROT) was analysed from video tapes. For each movement pattern, the trend in occurrence over time was assessed by multilevel analysis. The temporal association between different movement patterns was studied by calculation of the kappa value. ROT occurred very infrequently and showed no particular trend over time. GM, HM, and LM showed a significant decreasing trend towards parturition (P<0.01). Total fetal activity (i.e., the sum of the four movement incidences) declined from an average of 25% of recording time to 9% over the last three weeks of pregnancy. Periods of fetal quiescence gradually increased with progressing gestation (P<0.05). There was no evidence of concordant association between the periods of rest and activity of GM, HM, and LM or of improved temporal linkage between these movement patterns with time. Fetal bodily activity decreases towards parturition mainly due to prolonged periods of rest. Fetal movement patterns show rest-activity cycles, but each pattern appears to cycle independently from the other throughout late gestation. The present results of spontaneous fetal movements in the pig provide reference data for future studies of fetal activity under different zoo technical conditions or pharmacological interventions.
Authors:
S Cohen; E J H Mulder; H A van Oord; F H Jonker; N Parvizi; G C van der Weijden; M A M Taverne
Related Documents :
9920189 - Fetal and neonatal hand movement.
8796779 - The fetus as a patient: an essential ethical concept for maternal-fetal medicine.
628529 - Fetal well-being in gravidas with diminished fetal activity at term.
9475359 - Computerised analysis of fetal behaviour.
7424989 - An alternative to antepartum fetal heart rate testing.
6609519 - Somatosensory compensation for loss of labyrinthine function.
21803389 - Urbanization of congenital transmission of trypanosoma cruzi: prospective polymerase ch...
6975179 - Molluscicides in schistosomiasis control.
1103609 - Influence of maternal nutrition on birth weight.
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2010-03-01
Journal Detail:
Title:  Theriogenology     Volume:  74     ISSN:  1879-3231     ISO Abbreviation:  Theriogenology     Publication Date:  2010 Jul 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-05-31     Completed Date:  2010-09-03     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0421510     Medline TA:  Theriogenology     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  24-30     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Activity Cycles
Animals
Female
Fetal Movement / physiology*
Gestational Age*
Longitudinal Studies
Parturition
Pregnancy
Regression Analysis
Swine / embryology*
Ultrasonography, Prenatal / veterinary*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Differential gene expression in bovine elongated (Day 17) embryos produced by somatic cell nucleus t...
Next Document:  Polymorphisms of the gamma-glutamyl hydrolase gene and risk of relapse to acute lymphoblastic leukem...