Bovine fetal fluid collection: transvaginal, ultrasound-guided puncture technique
Vos, P.L.; Pieterse, M.C.; van der Weyden, G.C.; Taverne, M.A.
Veterinary Record 127(20): 502-504
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 2275091 Document Number: 347792
The technique (an adaption of a transvaginal ultrasound- guided puncture technique for bovine follicles) which was used to aspirate samples of amniotic and allantoic fluid at weekly intervals from 7 Friesian cows during the second to fourth month of pregnancy is described. The earliest successful aspiration of amniotic fluid was on day 44 of pregnancy and that of allantoic fluid on day 32. In 6 cows the fetus was still alive at a second collection. Repeated punctures increased the risk of intrauterine death, although in 3 cows, five successive samplings were performed. In one of these cows the last successful collection of amniotic fluid was on day 101 and pregnancy continued to term. Failures to collect samples were caused by the inability to penetrate fetal membranes. Bacterial contamination of the amniotic fluid occurred in some cases at the time of embryonic/fetal death; Actinomyces pyogenes was isolated in 2 cases.