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. 2018 Apr 26;96(7):2987–3002. doi: 10.1093/jas/sky164

Table 1.

Studies showing parallels in IUGR fetal pathology between sheep and humans

Pathology Sheep Human
O2 ~28% ↓ fetal arterial O2 at 0.7 gestation; 30–50% ↓ fetal arterial O2 near term Limesand et al., 2007; Limesand et al., 2013; Macko et al., 2013; Macko et al., 2016 ~33% ↓ fetal arterial O2 at ~0.75 gestation;15–40% ↓ cord blood O2 at delivery Pardi et al., 1993; Roberts et al., 1999; Marconi et al., 2006
Glucose ~23% ↓ fetal arterial O2 at 0.7 gestation; ~40% ↓ fetal arterial O2 near term Limesand et al., 2013; Macko et al., 2013; Macko et al., 2016 ~33% ↓ umbilical vein glucose in 3rd trimester; ~50% ↓ cord blood glucose at delivery Economides et al., 1991; Roberts et al., 1999; Lee et al., 2010
Catecholamines 5 to 5.7-fold ↑ fetal arterial norepinephrine near term; ~2.7-fold ↑ fetal arterial epinephrine near term Limesand et al., 2007; Leos et al., 2010; Macko et al., 2013; Macko et al., 2016; Rozance et al., 2018 7.4-fold ↑ fetal arterial norepinephrine near term; 3.1-fold ↑ amniotic fluid norepinephrine in third trimester Divers et al., 1981; Greenough et al., 1990
Inflammation 5-fold ↑ fetal arterial IL-6 near term; 10-fold ↑ fetal arterial Activin A near term Bertucci et al., 2011; Kelly et al., 2017; Jones et al., 2018 1.3 to 2.4-fold ↑ cord blood TNFα, IL-6, and IL-18 at delivery Makikallio et al., 2012; Krajewski et al., 2014; Visentin et al., 2014
Insulin, IGF ~40% (basal) and 52% (glucose-stim.) ↓ fetal arterial insulin near term; ~33% ↓ fetal arterial IGF-I near term Bauer et al., 2003; Leos et al., 2010; Macko et al., 2016 ~50% ↓ cord blood insulin at delivery; ~38% ↓ cord blood IGF-I at delivery; ~13% ↓ cord blood insulin at delivery Hubinont et al., 1991; Lee et al., 2010
Insulin action 1.6 to 2.4-fold ↑ perinatal insulin sensitivity; ~19% ↓ neonatal insulin sensitivity Camacho et al., 2016a; Camacho et al., 2017; Merrick et al., 2017 3.7-fold ↑ perinatal insulin sensitivity; ~7% ↓ insulin responsive in neonatal muscle Ozanne et al., 2005; Meral et al., 2011; Milovanovic et al., 2014
Glucose oxidation 17–30% ↓ fetal glucose oxidation near term; ~33% ↓ neonatal glucose oxidation Limesand et al., 2007; Brown et al., 2015; Merrick et al., 2017 ~23% ↓ juvenile glucose oxidation Jornayvaz et al., 2004
Myoblast function ~13% ↓ fetal myoblast proliferation; ~46% ↓ fetal myoblast differentiation; ~12% ↓ neonatal myoblast proliferation Yates et al., 2014; Camacho et al., 2016b; Riley et al., 2016 ↓ Myonuclear content of gastrocnemius muscle Widdowson et al., 1972

IGF, insulin-like growth factor; IL, interleukin; IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor α.