| Abstract: | Sterile intrauterine autolysis was experimentally produced in 28 ovine fetuses in the last 3rd of gestation by umbilical artery ligation. The fetuses were retrieved by cesarean section after periods of sterile intrauterine autolysis ranging from 0.5 to 168 hours. The following autolytic changes, frequently reported as significant lesions in infectious abortions in cattle and sheep, were observed: subcutaneous blood-tinged gelatinous edema, blood-tinged fluid in the serous cavities, renal cortical softening, uniform reddish brown tissues, hepatic friability and mottling, and cloudy yellow to cloudy red abomasal contents. The appearance of these and other autolytic changes corresponded to sterile sequential autolytic changes reported in the rabbit fetus and used to determine duration of retention of stillborn infants and are of comparative biomedical significance. The sequential autolytic changes may be used as an index to duration of retention after death of a ruminant fetus and provide a basis for reappraising various infective abortifacients common to ruminants by allowing separation of specific lesions from strictly autolytic changes. |
