Cortisol fetal fluids concentrations and newborn outcome in term pregnancy small-sized purebred dogs.

Abstract

In order to provide further information about canine perinatology, and because of the scarce
knowledge about fetal fluids composition in dogs, the present study was aimed to assess the cortisol
concentrations in fetal fluids collected from small-sized purebred newborn puppies born by elective
cesarean section, at term of pregnancy (Meloni et al, 2014). Furthermore we
assessed possible correlations of amniotic and allantoic cortisol concentrations and newborn outcome
at 24 hours of age and with the newborn gender. Fetal fluids cortisol concentrations were also
evaluated for correlation with maternal parity, litter-size, neonatal gender, birth weight and Apgar score
(Veronesi et al, 2009). The study, performed on 50 born alive, normal weighed puppies, without gross
physical malformation, showed that cortisol concentration was higher in allantoic than in amniotic fluid
(p<0.01), even if a strong positive correlation between the two fluids cortisol concentration was found
(p<0.0001; R=0.83). Interestingly, higher amniotic (p<0.05) cortisol concentrations were associated to
puppies not surviving at 24 hours after birth. Therefore it could be suggested that this parameter may
be useful for the recognition, at birth, of puppies needing special surveillance in the first day of age. In
relation to the other evaluated parameters, no correlations with amniotic or allantoic cortisol
concentrations were found. In conclusion, the present results showed that in small-sized purebred
puppies, born at term by elective caesarean section, the evaluation of amniotic cortisol concentration
seems useful for the detection of puppies that need special surveillance during the first 24 hours of age,
and should be coupled to the newborn evaluation by Apgar score.