Association between the Area of the Highest Flank Temperature and Concentrations of Reproductive Hormones during Pregnancy in Polish Konik Horses-A Preliminary Study.

Małgorzata Maśko,Małgorzata Domino,Małgorzata Wierzbicka,Łukasz Zdrojkowski

doi:10.3390/ani11061517

Abstract

Simple SummaryThermographic imaging is a potentially useful tool in pregnancy detection in equids, especially native or wildlife breeds. In late gestation, the differences in temperature of the flank area between pregnant and non-pregnant mares were suspected to be caused by hormonal effects on regional blood flow. This preliminary study aimed to assess changes in thermal features of the abdomen lateral surface and concentrations of reproductive hormones in Polish native pregnant mares. The study was carried out on pregnant and non-pregnant Polish native Konik Polski mares, and both the hormonal profile and the thermal pattern of mares’ abdomens were examined monthly. The features from thermal images in rainbow HC and gray palette were extracted to determine relations with a hormonal profile dependent across the months of pregnancy. The new feature of a thermal image in the gray palette, the area with the highest temperatures (Area of Tmax), was found to be significantly related to progesterone and relaxin blood concentration. The standard features of the thermal image did not show any similar associations over consecutive months of pregnancy. In this preliminary study, a new approach to thermographic imaging analysis based on the Area of Tmax calculation was proposed. However, further research is needed to better understand the relation between the Area of Tmax and concentrations of reproductive hormones, especially including an experiment with at least daily blood sampling and the hair coat lengths examination.Determination of the pregnancy status is one of the most important factors for effective pregnancy management. Knowledge of the stage of pregnancy is important to interpret many of the reproductive hormones’ concentrations, including progesterone (P4), estrone sulfate (E1S), 17-ß estradiol (E2), and relaxin (REL). However, it is limited in wildlife or captive equids that cannot be handled. Reproductive hormones affect regional blood flow, the proliferation of tissues, and local metabolism intensity. Therefore, this preliminary study aimed to assess changes in thermal features of the abdomen lateral surface and concentrations of reproductive hormones in Polish native pregnant mares. The study was carried out on 14 non-pregnant and 26 pregnant Polish Konik mares during eleven months of pregnancy. Infrared thermography was conducted to image the lateral surface of mares’ abdomen (Px1) and flank area (Px2); P4, E1S, E2, and REL concentrations in serum were also determined. The evidence of the association between the area with the highest temperatures (Area of Tmax) and serum concentrations of P4 (the slope = 1.373; p = 0.9245) and REL (the slope = 1.342; p = 0.4324) were noted dependent across months of pregnancy. Measures of superficial body temperatures were found to change monthly, similarly to ambient temperatures, with no evidence of coincidence with changes in reproductive hormone concentrations. Individual thermal characteristics of the lateral surface of the abdomen differed between pregnant and non-pregnant mares in other periods. Differences in maximal and average temperature and Area of Tmax were observed from the sixth month of pregnancy, and those in minimal temperature were observed from the eighth month.

Highlights

Thermographic imaging has been reported as a potentially useful tool in pregnancy detection in equids since 2009, in the field of late gestation assessment [1,2,3].Bowers et al described significant differences in temperature of the flank area between pregnant and non-pregnant mares beginning at 292 days of gestation
The descriptive statistics for selected thermal features of the lateral surface of the abdomen and reproductive hormone concentrations in the serum are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively
Our results indicated that the surface body temperature, both in the whole area and the flank area of the lateral surface of the abdomen, changes to Tamb; no correlations were measured

Summary

Introduction

Thermographic imaging has been reported as a potentially useful tool in pregnancy detection in equids since 2009, in the field of late gestation assessment [1,2,3].Bowers et al described significant differences in temperature of the flank area between pregnant and non-pregnant mares beginning at 292 days of gestation. Authors assumed that the differences could be caused by hormonal effects on regional blood flow, the proliferation of tissues, metabolic and/or hormonal interactions, protein synthesis activity, or any number of associations with pregnancy that relate to the placenta and the fetus [1]. All these processes require mares to expend a large amount of energy, which produces metabolic heat in tissues leading to an increase in body temperature [4]. It should be kept in mind that the temperature measured from the body surface is related to the internal conditions and to the thermal properties of the skin and hair coat [9] and the thermal gradient between the skin surface and the environment [10,11]

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