Diagnostic Biomarkers for Late-Term Pregnancy Loss

Researchers are exploring whether various diagnostic biomarkers could help assess fetoplacental well-being in mares.
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Late-term pregnancy losses in mares can be sudden, unexpected, and financially and emotionally devastating. The causes range from placentitis (inflammation of the placenta) to viruses such as equine arteritis to noninfectious conditions such as umbilical cord torsions. Placentitis, however, is the leading cause, to blame for around 30% of cases.

Because it can be so difficult to predict pregnancy loss, researchers have been studying various diagnostic biomarkers in hopes of learning more. Barry Ball, DVM, PhD, of the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center, in Lexington, reviewed current as well as newer methods of evaluating late-term pregnancy during the 2016 Theriogenology Conference, held July 27-30 in Asheville, North Carolina. These included:

Estrogens “The equine fetoplacental unit produces (the steroid hormones) pregnanes, androgens, and estrogens during pregnancy, which can be detected in maternal circulation,” said Ball.

A number of studies have evaluated estrogen levels in the blood of pregnant mares. In a 2013 study, for instance, Ball and colleagues studied estradiol (the estrogen sex hormone) levels in pregnant mares and found that they declined in mares with pathology (disease). “Estradiol might have utility evaluating pregnancy status,” he theorized

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Alexandra Beckstett, a native of Houston, Texas, is a lifelong horse owner who has shown successfully on the national hunter/jumper circuit and dabbled in hunter breeding. After graduating from Duke University, she joined Blood-Horse Publications as assistant editor of its book division, Eclipse Press, before joining The Horse. She was the managing editor of The Horse for nearly 14 years and is now editorial director of EquiManagement and My New Horse, sister publications of The Horse.

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