Electrocardiographic Aspects of Singleton Pregnancy and Neonatal Period in American Miniature Horse Breed

Background: During pregnancy, cardiovascular adaptations occur in order to meet maternal demands and adequate support for fetal development, but they are still unclear in the equine species, especially in the American Miniature horse breed. The main hemodynamic changes that occur during pregnancy are increased heart rate, cardiac output, and blood volume. It is necessary to use the reference values for the miniature breeds, in addition to the age range and reproductive condition, so the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pregnancy on electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters in mares and also of age in newborns foals of American Miniature horse breed. Materials, Methods & Results: Ten American Miniature Horse mares, between 7 and 19 years old (12.14 ± 4.05 years), 116.85 ± 24.09 kg of body weight were used in the experiment. All these mares were pluriparous, with 5.9 ± 3.5 of births, minimum of 2, and maximum of 12 foaling times. They were maintained in common social group in an indoor house stable with straw bed, with access to an outdoor paddock for several h per day. Twice a day they were fed with hay. Mineral supplements and water were available ad libitum. The ECG were obtained in 10 pregnant mares and in 10 neonates. All females were examined at a representative time of each trimester of pregnancy, at 30, 210, 300 days before and 21 days after delivery. Neonates were examined on different times: first 24 h after delivery, weekly on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 35th days of age. The ECG parameters considered were the heart rate and rhythm, duration and intervals (P, PR, QRS, QT, T) and amplitude (P, R, S, T) of ECG waves. The mean of pregnancy duration was 319.4 ± 4.97 days. Heart Rate (HR) varied between 51 to 59 bpm during pregnancy and 56 bpm on the 21st day after delivery. Comparing the clinical parameters of pregnant mares, non-pregnant mares and foal a difference was found for HR, Respiration Rate (RR) and Temperature (P = 0.001). All ECG parameters of pregnant, non-pregnant and foal mares showed a significant difference (P = 0.0001), except for the amplitude of the P1, P2 and R waves, which was similar for the 3 groups. The mean values of HR and amplitude of the positive T wave were higher in foals when compared to pregnant and non-pregnant mares, which in turn did not differ from each other. The mean duration of the P wave, PR segment, QRS complex, QT segment and T wave were the same among mares and greater than in foals. Comparing pregnant and non-pregnant mares, there was a difference in only 3 parameters: duration of the QTc segment, amplitude of the S wave and negative T wave. The non-pregnant mares had a longer duration of the QTc segment and a greater amplitude of the negative T wave, while the foals had a greater amplitude of the S wave. Discussion: Although this study did not measure HR at delivery time, it is worth to consider the action of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system close to delivery, which reduces the HR of mares. This is because at delivery, sympathetic-adrenal activation should be avoided since the increase in sympathetic tone can cause uterine atony via B2 receptors. For this reason, it has been shown that, during physiological birth, horses are under parasympathetic control, and stress response mechanisms are not activated. It was conclude that the morphometry of the waves, intervals and ECG complexes, during the evolution of the reproductive state, the electrocardiographic aspects were generally associated with heart rate (PR and QT intervals). As for neonates, there was a discrepancy among the most of ECG parameters when compared to the adult female, regardless of reproductive status, clarifying the importance of ECG patterns not only for the breed, but also for the age group.