title: Fetal brain injury in experimental intrauterine asphyxia and inflammation in Göttingen minipigs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine fetal brain injury in the Göttingen minipig following intrauterine asphyxia and infection/inflammation induced at 3/4 of gestational length.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed laparotomy after anesthesia in six pregnant sows. We randomized 29 fetuses to one of four groups: pretreatment with saline or endotoxin followed by 30 min of umbilical cord occlusion or no occlusion. After 48 h we performed a re-laparotomy and examined the fetal brains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After total asphyxia, brain stem injury was present in the group pretreated with saline (P < 0.01 vs. controls) and with endotoxin (P < 0.005 vs. controls). Microglia activation was more marked in the brain stem (P < 0.05) and posterior white matter (P < 0.05) in the asphyxia group than in controls. Two of five fetuses in the asphyxia group had white matter injury, while no white matter lesions were found in the asphyxia/inflammation or endotoxin only groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this Göttingen minipig model, a species closer to humans than animals commonly used in experimental studies of perinatal brain injuries, intrauterine asphyxia following pretreatment with saline caused brain stem and white matter injury. This model can be further developed to study the impact of other intrauterine exposures on brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. kristin.lyng@klinmed.uio.no
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lyng
authors.forename: Berit H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Munkeby
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scheie
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mallard
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagberg
authors.forename: Babill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stray-Pedersen
authors.forename: Ola Didrik
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Saugstad
authors.forename: J Frederik
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Frøen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology* / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D020567:Fetal Weight; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D017628:Microglia / Q000473:pathology; D009336:Necrosis; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004731:Endotoxins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha