Using pregnant sheep to model developmental brain damage

Abstract

In order to develop more effective ways of identifying, managing, and treating preterm asphyxial brain injury, stable experimental models are essential. The present review describes the key experimental factors that determine the pattern and severity of brain injury in chronically instrumented fetal sheep, including the depth (“severity”) and duration of asphyxia, and the maturity, and condition of the fetus. These models are valuable to dissect the pathogenesis of key clinical patterns of brain injury in a stable thermal and biochemical environment, and to test therapeutic interventions.