Effect of the dose of equine chorionic gonadotrophin [ECG] on ovarian response and embryo recovery in Egyptian baladi goats

The effects of doses of equine chorionic gonadotrophin [eCG] for a simple superovulation method in does [Goats] were investigated on ovulation rate, proportions of fertilized oocytes and normal embryos at recovery. The does were treated with intravaginal sponges impregnated with medroxy progesterone acetate [MAP] for 12 days. For superovulation, an intramuscular injection of eCG was given at 24 h before sponge removal. Does were divided into nine equal groups [n = 5] A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I. Each received 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 IU of eCG respectively. All does were naturally inseminated by four healthy fertile bucks. Laparotomy and embryo recovery were done for does on day six. The mean numbers of corpora lutea of nine groups were [2.8 +/- 4.34, 4.4 +/- 0.55, 2.8 +/- 1.10, 4.2 +/- 1.79, 6.8 +/- 2.39, 9.6 +/- 4.45, 6.8 +/- 5.81, 6.6 +/- 3.05 and 5.8 +/- 5.17] respectively. While mean of unovulated follicles were counted after laparotomy for nine groups respectively [3.4 +/- 1.14, 5.8 +/- 1.30, 7.0 +/- 2.35, 5.6 +/- 1.82, 6.8 +/- 2.05, 7.2 +/- 1.92, 9.8 +/- 4.71, 11.2 +/- 5.02 and 10.6 +/- 3.58]. On the other hand the percentage of normal embryos were 0, 15.0, 42.86, 42.11, 54.84, 66.67, 48.64, 38.0 and 45.24] of normal embryos. The present study indicates that an appropriate eCG dose would be 600-700 IU for a simple superovulation method in does pre-treated with Progestagen-impregnated vaginal sponges

Influence of priming dose of GnRH analogue [cystorelin] on the ovarian activity in postpartum Egyptian buffalo-cows

This work aimed to study the effect of GnRH injection at 44 days postpartum when preceded by a priming dose, on the ovarian activity and consequently, the initiation of the postpartum ovarian cyclicity in Egyptian buffalos. Routine rectal examination was carried out to diagnose the postpartum [pp] conditions of the ovaries in 18 normal parturient buffalo-cows at day 30 pp. These animals did not show any signs of etrus till day 44 pp. The animals were assigned randomly at day 44 pp into 2 groups. Group 1 [n=12], was treated with 100 mul GnRH [Cystorelin]. Each animal received 2 injections of GnRH 50 mul i.m./one hour apart. Group 2 [n=6] defined as controls and received saline [1 ml i.m.]. Visual examination was done following GnRH injection to detect the sings of estrus. Rectal examinations were conducted in the 1st week [51 days postpartum] and 2nd week [58 days pp] to detect any ovarian changes after treatment on both groups. Serum samples were collected parallel to rectal palpation to detect the progesterone and estradiol 17 beta levels before and after treatment. The animals were allowed freely for natural service by a fertile buffalo-bull and examined for pregnancy at day 45 post service. The results revealed that, the injection of GnRH analogue preceded by 1 hour apart priming dose resulted in a significant increase in the treatment and consequently induced cyclicity and shortened of the period from calving to first postpartum estrus in Egyptian buffalos

Tumour necrosis factor in squamous cell carcinoma of urinary bladder

This study aimed to demonstrate the role of tumor necrosis factor [TNF] in malignancy. TNF level has been estimated by ELISA techniques method in 30 patients with cancer bladder and 10 normal control subjects. It was found that preoperative TNF levels were significantly higher in comparing to the normal control subjects, and this level dropped postoperatively in 80% of the cases. These findings led to the conclusion that TNF may be used as a tumor marker for regular check up and that the TNF level may be used to assess the radicality of the operative procedure if the postoperative sample was taken after a longer duration in the absence of surgical complications

Studies on the treatment of placental retention in cows using certain drugs

The present study aimed to apply certain field medicaments directly postpartum to treat and reduce the incidence of placental retention in cows. A total number of 126 native cows were used in this study. The animals were assigned into two parts: 1st with normal [n=100] and 2nd with abnormal [n=26] births. Each main part was divided according to the type of drug used into five groups. The drugs applied and their amounts were 7 ml Methergin [group 1], 10 ml Oxytocin [group 2], 1 ml/50 kg body weight Carazolol [group 3], 5 ml Lutalyse [group 4] and non-treated [group 5]. All the drugs were injected intramuscularly directly after parturition. All the percentages of retention were calculated within 12 hours after parturition except in case of Lutalyse injection. The percentages were calculated after 24 hours from delivery and the mean time between the injection of Carazolol and the placental expulsion was recorded. The results indicated that, the low incidences of placental retention were recorded after Methergin, Carazolol and Oxytocin injection in both normal and abnormal births. The mean time for placental dropping was 5.0 +/- 1.22 and 8.0 +/- 3.5 hours in both normal and abnormal births, respectively. The results of PGF2a proved the low importance of its singular use to treat the placental retention. It was suggested that the routine injection of Methergin, Oxytocin and Carazolol [beta blockers] reduced the placental retention in cows, and it can be taken as a parameter for reproductive efficiency

Recovery and transfer of Egyptian buffalo embryos using non-surgical technique

The present study was undertaken to apply and evaluate the new technology of embryo transfer system and its success in Egyptian buffaloes. Eleven buffalo-cows were used in this study and were assigned into two groups. The first [n=8] was for donors and the second [n=3] was for the recipients. The animals were superovulated and synchronized for estrus using a total dosage of 50 mg FSH-p [Shering Corporation, USA] and 25 mg Lutalyse for each animals respectively. The animals were naturally mated at least 2 times 36-80 hours [hrs] after Lutalyse injection. The embryos were collected and evaluated at day 5 to 5.5 after estrus. The good transferable embryos were transferred non-surgically to the uterine horn ipsilateral to the corpus luteum [CL] to 2 recipient buffaloes. The percentage of animals that responded to superovulation was 100%. Eight embryos were collected [transferable] and the average number of transferable embryos/ animals was 1.6. One animal was confirmed pregnant 45 days after estrus. The present results revealed that the technique of embryo transfer in Egyptian buffaloes needs more investigations; at the same time the present protocol was found to be satisfactory to reduce the problems facing the embryo transfer technique in Egyptian buffaloes

Role of certain antimicrobial agents in treating the repeat breeder syndrome among cows and buffaloes

Sixty cows and 40 buffalos were diagnosed clinically repeat breeder animals. Uterine samples were collected and examined bacteriologically. The sensitivity of bacterial isolates recorded from the infectious cases for the antibiotics was studied. The microorganisms isolated from the uterine samples of cows and buffalos were Strept. bovis [5% and 7.5%], Staph. epidermidis [4% and 18.8%], Strept. facium [10.3%, 7.7%], Corynebacterium [18.1% and 14.8%], E. coli [6% and 1.0%], Enterobacter [10.6% and 8.9%], Pseudomonas [1.0% and 6.1%], and unclassified species [17.5% and 19.8%] respectively. Several medicaments were used to treat the repeat breeder animals symptomatically or based on the results of the bacterial sensitivity tests. Lugol's iodine 0.5%, lotagen 4%, mastalone and the animal own plasma were used based on symptoms. Tetracycline, ampicillin and sulfonamide were used to treat the repeat breeder animals in two ways. The first without sensitivity tests and the second based on sensitivity tests against the isolated bacterial strains. The results indicated that the most popular causes of repeat breeder were endometritis [40%] and cervicitis [30%] for cows and cervicitis [35%] and endometritis [25%] in buffalos. The results revealed that the high conception rate was obtained following the treatment of the animal with its own plasma [71.4% and 80%] and the ampicillin [50% and 50%] without sensitivity test for cows and buffalos, respectively. According to the results of the sensitivity tests, the best medicaments were tetracycline [60% and 60%], sulfonamide [50% and 66.6%] and ampicillin [75% and 100%] for cows and buffalos respectively. It was clear that the endometritis and cervicitis were the most popular causes of repeat breeder syndrome in cows and buffalos that were found with small holders. As a new trend, it was valuable to use the animal own plasma to treat such syndrome. However, the use of antibiotics will be more effective if used on sensitivity tests bases

Toluidine blue stain and sperm abnormalities in rabbits

Five mature New Zealand bucks were used in this study to examine the efficacy of the toluidine blue stain to determine the normal and abnormal spermatozoa recovered from testis and epididymis [unilateral cryptorchidism and free]. The results revealed that the sp"iatids released from the cryptorchid testis were deeply stained by the toluidine blue. Misshaped sperm heads were stained with toluidine blue and appeared faintly stained, where they were exposed to sever testiar degeneration. The normal spermatozoa wert unstained except the distal part of the head stained darkly due to the chroniatin condensation in this part. The abnormal spermatozoa either from the testis or the epididymis appeared deeply stained with the toluidine blue stain. It was observec that the toluidine blue stain has the ability to stain the unstabilized chromatin which was prominent in the abnormal sperrnatids or spermatozoa. This result will help in the diagnosis of the testicular degeneration [primary sperm abnormalities] which will be reflected on the sire and semen evaluations

Studies on the relationships between trace elements and some blood components and fertility in Egyptian buffaloes

The present investigation carried out on a total number of 50 buffalo- cows, 25 repeat breeder and 25 with smooth inactive ovaries. Fifteen normal fertile buffalos were used as control. The mean values of serum copper, zinc, iron calcium, inorganic phosphorus, magnesium and total protein in normal fertile and infertile buffalos were tabulated. The obtained results showed a highly significant decrease in both serum copper and inorganic phosphorus in buffalos with ovarian inactivity as well as in repeat-breeder buffalo-cows

Detection of early pregnancy on osini sheep by rosette inhibition test [RIT]

Serum samples were collected from 30 Ossimi ewes 6 to 25 days after artificially inseminated. The rosette inhibition test [RIT] was tried for detection of pregnancy in these ewes. Aliquots of serum samples was incubated with sheep anti-lymphocyte serum prepared in rabbits, absorbed guinea pig serum and absorbed human RBCs. Early pregnancy was detected in sera of 11 out of the 30 samples examined. In all positive samples, more than 25% reduction in the numbers of rosettes were formed compared with negative controls. A dilution of the anti- lymphocyte serum [1 in 256 x 10 3] was selected and proved to give satisfactory results through the experiment. Using this dilution of antisera the time of performing the test was reduced to 2.5 hours in 12 serum samples. The present work supported the possible use of the RIT as a field test for the early pregnancy diagnosis in sheep