Use of estrone sulfate determination in goat blood for the detection of pregnancy and prediction of fetal number]

The study was carried out on 50 goats of Polish White breed. Blood samples were taken on day 60 after mating from V. jugularis. Pregnancy diagnosis was made using transcutan ultrasound scanning (Pie Medical Scanner 2000 with a 5 MHz curved array probe). The estrone sulphate level was determined by RIA method after extraction and hydrolysis with arylsulphatase/glucuronidase from Helix pomatia. As a threshold value for differentiation of pregnant from nonpregnant goats 1 ng/ml was assumed. In eight nonpregnant goats the estrone sulphate level was 0.61 +/- 0.21 ng/ml. In 42 pregnant goats the level was 6.1 +/- 3.5 ng/ml. The diagnosis was correct in all cases. The number of single, twin and triplet pregnancies was six, 34 and two, respectively. Estrone values in goats with twin pregnancies were significantly higher compared to those with single pregnancies (7.2 +/- 4.1 ng/ml vs. 4.5 +/- 1.8 ng/ml; p < or = 0.01). The results of this study indicate, that the determination of estrone sulphate in blood of goats may be useful for pregnancy diagnosis. The estrone sulphate level in goats with twins is higher, but due to high variation between animals the number of fetuses cannot be exactly predicted.