Noninvasive Detection of Mouse Pregnancy

Mice are small rodents that are often used in research studies due to their low maintenance costs, fast reproductive cycles, and biological similarity to humans. On average, mice experience a 19-21 day gestation period after conception, and delivery of the pups are successful unless the mother experiences a miscarriage.

 

Researchers in obstetrics and gynecology fields aim to investigate signaling pathways over the course of pregnancy (i.e. time of conception to time of delivery) in mice. Researchers from different laboratories study various stages of the 21-day gestation period in hopes of obtaining a comprehensive view of mouse pregnancy, which can help guide future research in human pregnancy. Some of these applications may help reduce the frequency of preterm deliveries, which currently account for 12.6% of births in the United States.

 

Laboratories lose significant time and resources when they perform experiments with mice that appear pregnant, when, in fact, they are not. In this scenario, the mice are sacrificed, and researchers must rebreed mice to obtain pregnant animals. Current pregnancy detection methods are either too inaccurate or provide a result too late in pregnancy (e.g. at least 9-10 days past breeding) to prevent unnecessary experimentation on the mice. Therefore, there is a need to develop a non-invasive mouse pregnancy test 120 hours after successful mating.