An investigation of pregnancy proteins in the horse (Equus caballus)

Conner, Joseph Gerard (1985) An investigation of pregnancy proteins in the horse (Equus caballus). PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Proteins, either specific to, or associated with, pregnancy, have been reported in the circulation of various mammalian species, especially man, where most of them reach peak concentrations at term. However the variety of species studied is limited. Therefore the existence of similar proteins was investigated in the horse, a species which exhibits many unusual features of pregnancy. The investigation used similar immunological methods to those which had been successful in other species. However they failed to reveal any pregnancy specific or pregnancy associated proteins in the maternal circulation in late pregnancy. The existence of pregnancy proteins in the mare was further investigated using antisera to placental extracts and two dimensional electrophoresis of pregnancy serum. The former identified unique proteins in the equine placenta at term but these were absent from the maternal circulation. The latter technique confirmed the results of the immunological investigation on pregnancy serum that pregnancy specific proteins were absent in late gestation. It did however identify pregnancy specific proteins in the early stages of gestation. Investigation of two other parameters, serum alkaline phosphatase activity and sex hormone binding capacity, during pregnancy in the mare showed that although serum alkaline phosphatase activity varied it did not do so in a manner related to placental growth and that a protein similar to human sex sex hormone binding globulin was absent from equine serum. On the basis of the results various theories could explain the lack of pregnancy proteins in the late PMS. Of these the most probable explanation was that the comparative placentation of the horse and of humans could cause the difference in the presence of these plasma proteins.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Veterinary science, Animal sciences
• Date of Award: 1985
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1985-76541
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2019 14:11
• Last Modified: 19 Nov 2019 14:11
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/76541