Abstract
Background: Preterm infants frequently show neuromotor dysfunctions, but it is not clear how reduced gestational age at birth may induce developmental coordination disorders. Advancing postnatal age, not only post-conceptional age, may determine neuromuscular development, and early interventions in preterm newborns may improve their later motor skills. An animal model of preterm birth that allows early postnatal detection of movement patterns may help to investigate this hypothesis.Methods: Using pigs as a model for moderately preterm infants, preterm (106-day gestation, equivalent to 90% of normal gestation time; n = 38) and term (115-day gestation, equivalent to 99% of normal gestation time; n = 20) individuals were delivered by cesarean section and artificially reared until postnatal day 19 (preweaning period). The neuromotor skills of piglets were documented using spatiotemporal gait analyses on video recordings of locomotion at self-selected speed at postnatal age 3, 4, 5, 8, and 18 days. Results were controlled for effects of body weight and sex.Results: Both preterm and term piglets reached mature neuromotor skills and performance between postnatal days 3–5. However, preterm pigs took shorter steps at a higher frequency, than term piglets, irrespective of their body size. Within preterm pigs, males and low birth weight individuals took the shortest steps, and with the highest frequency.Conclusion: Postnatal development of motor skills and gait characteristics in pigs delivered in late gestation may show similarity to the compromised development of gait pattern in preterm infants. Relative to term pigs, the postnatal delay in gait development in preterm pigs was only few days, that is, much shorter than the 10-day reduction in gestation length. This indicates rapid postnatal adaptation of gait pattern after reduced gestational age at birth. Early-life physical training and medical interventions may support both short- and long-term gait development after preterm birth in both pigs and infants.
Highlights
Preterm birth is known to interrupt brain growth and maturation in utero, potentially affecting postnatal neurodevelopment, especially of cerebellar and periventricular brain structures [1, 2]
There was no interaction between condition (P vs. T), sex or birth weight and postnatal age for both body weight, and hind limb length (HLL) (p > 0.05)
This was somewhat surprising since, given their lower muscle mass and lesser muscle anabolic response [31], we expected that preterm pigs would be overall slower. It is possible, that, relative to total body weight, their muscle mass is developed. We have found this to be true for low birth weight piglets in our previous studies [24, 32], and this is the case in preterm piglets vs. their term counterparts at 26 days of age [14]
Summary
Preterm birth (birth before 37 weeks of gestation) is known to interrupt brain growth and maturation in utero, potentially affecting postnatal neurodevelopment, especially of cerebellar and periventricular brain structures [1, 2]. In contrast to the immediate locomotion after birth of term piglets, 90% gestation preterm pigs show 3–5-day delays in their normal standing and walking [9,10,11] While this postnatal motor development is much faster than in preterm infants, the preterm–term differences in piglets may be used to investigate basic mechanisms and possible interventions in states of immaturity. The gross anatomy of the brain [12], its perinatal growth and developmental trajectories are similar in pigs and infants [13], suggesting that consequences of preterm birth may be similar, different in their timing [8, 14] For locomotion, it appears that underlying mechanisms of development and locomotor modules in the neuronal networks of the spinal cord are similar among mammals [15,16,17,18]. An animal model of preterm birth that allows early postnatal detection of movement patterns may help to investigate this hypothesis
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