Returning to my pregnancy roots this week, a veterinary ultrasound publication looking at gestation in agoutis will be discussed in more detail. All the information looked at here was taken from the abstract (the full text was unavailable) from the paper ‘Doppler ultrasound of the placenta and maternal and fetal vessels during normal gestation in captive agoutis (Dasyprocta prymnolopha, Wagler, 1831)’, by Sousa FC et al., Theriogenology, 2016 Jun 15 [Epub ahead of print].

Agoutis belong to the rodent family and have a 3 month pregnancy gestation period following which they can give birth to between 2 and 4 babies at a time (Wikipedia). In this study, 30 of these animals were exposed to B-mode and Doppler ultrasound by researchers in order to help gain information on a number of structures during what was considered to be a normal pregnancy. Whilst ultrasonography is a very useful tool used to monitor gestation in a number of species, in animals where there is less information available, ultrasound imaging can be a critical tool in helping to bridge the information gap and increase pregnancy success.

Once the practitioner was able to establish both where the placenta was and the blood flow within the placenta following ultrasound imaging, findings revealed that the placenta was goblet-shaped and pregnancy improved placental blood flow in the umbilical artery which would be expected. Furthermore, examination carried out with ultrasound revealed the characteristics of blood flow both maternally (via the placenta) and also within the foetus (assessed via the aortic region). Utilising different pre-defined milestones of gestation, this study also sought to look at how the mother and foetus interacted physiologically via B-mode and Doppler ultrasound in order to gain a 2-dimensional image and to examine blood flow respectively. These studies helped to return ‘blood flow values’ on various parts of the foetal-maternal system, which are important as they can help in building on the current knowledge of pregnancy in agoutis.

This is important both for the agouti species itself, but also in the context of comparative biology, and particularly for comparative pregnancy studies. My PhD studies utilised an equine model in order to enhance the understanding of pregnancy within the horse (and to aid in future studies where unexplained pregnancy loss may be recurrent), but also to highlight the similarities and differences between equine gestation and other species. These kinds of studies can therefore be of great benefit to researchers in enhancing what is already known about pregnancy and helping to answer that age old question that was the focus of four years of my life – how can the maternal immune system tolerate the ‘foreign’ foetus? With new technology constantly being discovered and ultrasound scanners becoming increasingly sophisticated, I hope that uncovering the answer is only a matter of time. Feel free to contact us if you would like more information regarding using ultrasound imaging during pregnancy.