Ultrasonography has not previously been used for studying fetal movements in precocial rodents. The objective of this study was to ultrasonographically determine the sequence of the appearance of basic movements in a guinea pig fetus. The research included eight guinea pig females carrying one fetus each. Fetal movements were observed for 10 minutes each day, from the 25 th to 38 th day of gestation. The time and sequence of the appearance of movements was observed as follows: whole body flexion (mean 27.6 SD ± 1.68), whole body extension (mean 28.1 SD ± 1.12), head flexion (mean 28.1 SD ± 1.80), head extension (mean 30.5 SD ± 2.67) forelimbs flexion (mean 30.5 SD ± 2.32), forelimbs extension (mean 30.7 SD ± 1.84), trunk rotation (mean 31.9 SD ± 2.23), forelimbs alternating flexion and extension (mean 32.1 SD ± 2.1), hind limbs extension (mean 32.2 SD ± 3.2), hind limbs flexion (mean 32.4 SD ± 3.16), and hind limbs alternating flexion and extension (mean 33.5 SD ± 2.39). The identical sequences of basic movement appearances in guinea pigs, sheep, and rats suggest that the rostrocaudal gradient of basic movement appearance could be a general developmental pattern in mammalian species.
The aim of this work was to determine the changes in the duration of spontaneous movements in the guinea pig fetus after the appearance of its first movements. Every day from the 25th to the 35th gestation day, one fetus from each of twenty pregnant animals was examined by ultrasound. Fetal movements were observed for 5 min. The episode with the longest period of movement was taken into consideration and was recorded as: <1 s, 1-3 s, and >3 s. Days 25 and 26 were characterized by episodes lasting <1 s; days 29 to 31 were dominated by episodes lasting 1-3 s, and days 34 and 35 by episodes lasting >3 s (?2 = 140.51 p <0.05). Tracking the dynamics of progressive increases in the longest episode of spontaneous movement could be a useful factor in estimating the maturity and condition of a fetus.
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