title: Instrumentation of Near-term Fetal Sheep for Multivariate Chronic Non-anesthetized Recordings.
abstract: The chronically instrumented pregnant sheep has been used as a model of human fetal development and responses to pathophysiologic stimuli such as endotoxins, bacteria, umbilical cord occlusions, hypoxia and various pharmacological treatments. The life-saving clinical practices of glucocorticoid treatment in fetuses at risk of premature birth and the therapeutic hypothermia have been developed in this model. This is due to the unique amenability of the non-anesthetized fetal sheep to the surgical placement and maintenance of catheters and electrodes, allowing repetitive blood sampling, substance injection, recording of bioelectrical activity, application of electric stimulation and in vivo organ imaging. Here we describe the surgical instrumentation procedure required to achieve a stable chronically instrumented non-anesthetized fetal sheep model including characterization of the post-operative recovery from blood gas, metabolic and inflammation standpoints.
authors.affiliation: Département de sciences cliniques, CHUV, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, QC.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Département d'obstetriques et de gynécologie, CHU Ste-Justine Research Centre, Université de Montréal.
authors.forename: Hai Lun
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Département d'obstetriques et de gynécologie, CHU Ste-Justine Research Centre, Université de Montréal.
authors.forename: Shikha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuthiala
authors.affiliation: Département de sciences cliniques, CHUV, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, QC.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fecteau
authors.affiliation: Département de sciences cliniques, CHUV, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, QC.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desrochers
authors.affiliation: Département d'obstetriques et de gynécologie, CHU Ste-Justine Research Centre, Université de Montréal.
authors.forename: Lucien Daniel
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Durosier
authors.affiliation: Département d'obstetriques et de gynécologie, CHU Ste-Justine Research Centre, Université de Montréal.
authors.forename: Mingju
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Département d'obstetriques et de gynécologie, CHU Ste-Justine Research Centre, Université de Montréal; Département de neurosciences, CHU Ste-Justine Centre de recherche, Université de Montréal; Centre de recherche en reproduction animale (CRRA), Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, QC; mg.frasch@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Martin G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Frasch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004626:Embryology / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology; D023421:Models, Animal; D011247:Pregnancy; D012756:Sheep / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery