title: Clinical studies on daily low dose oxytocin in mares at term.
abstract: The aim of this study was to test whether low dose oxytocin i.v. injection once a day to mares diagnosed as being ready for birth by mammary secretion calcium strip test measurements could be used as a reliable method to induce parturition and/or predict the mare would not foal during the following night if parturition did not occur within 2 h of treatment. Fifty-one near-term Haflinger mares were used and a single injection of 2.5 iu oxytocin was given between 1700 and 1900 h, including 10 mares used as controls which were administered a placebo. Administration of oxytocin resulted in the delivery of a normal foal within 120 min in 95% of mares. Twenty-four out of 38 (63%) treated animals foaled in response to the first oxytocin injection, 9 out of 38 (24%) in response to the second injection and 3 out of 38 (8%) in response to the third treatment. Two out of 38 (5%) treated mares foaled during the night irrespective of treatment whereas 7 out of 10 (70%) control mares foaled during the night. It was concluded that the major advantage of injecting a daily low dose of oxytocin appears to be that such a low dose induces delivery only in mares carrying a mature fetus and which are ready to foal.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Clinica Veterinaria, Università di Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Camillo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marmorini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Romagnoli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cela
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duchamp
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Palmer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses; D007751:Labor, Induced / Q000662:veterinary*; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000737:chemistry; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin; D002118:Calcium