An animal model of placental insufficiency-induced intrauterine growth restriction

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), often associated with functional placental insufficiency, results in increased perinatal mortality and morbidity. For obvious reasons, many questions regarding the progression of IUGR pregnancies cannot be addressed experimentally in humans, predicating the use of animal models. Although no animal model fully recapitulates human pregnancy, the pregnant sheep has been used extensively to investigate maternal-fetal interactions. In sheep, surgical placement of catheters in both the maternal and fetal vasculature allows repeated sampling from nonanesthetized pregnancies. Considerable insight has been gained on placental oxygen and nutrient transfer and utilization from use of pregnant sheep, often confirmed in the human once appropriate technologies became available. This review will focus on one sheep model, used to examine the impact of placental insufficiency-induced IUGR on oxygen and nutrient transport and utilization.