Intestinal Ischaemia-Reperfusion Injury and Semen Characteristics in West African Dwarf Bucks.

Increasing production of goats takes their reproductive potential and fertility, into consideration. Gastrointestinal obstructive lesions can set up an intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion. Testicular torsion is an established cause of testicular damage and infertility and is a form of ischaemia-reperfusion injury. This study investigates the effect of intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion (IIR) injury on semen characteristics in WAD bucks. Six healthy adult male WAD goats were divided into two groups of three, a control and IIR group, one hour ischaemia and two hours of reperfusion were achieved in the intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion (IIR) group after all goats underwent a laparotomy. Semen collection was done using the electro-ejaculator method pre-operatively and weekly for four weeks post-operatively. The semen concentration, percentage of normal sperm cells, abnormal sperm cells and percentage abnormality were evaluated. In control animals, there was an increase in semen concentration postoperatively followed by a decrease whereas in IIR animals, a decrease was observed postoperatively till the 4th week. Total normal sperm cells decreased postoperatively and then increased to preoperative levels whereas a decrease was seen in IIR animals till the 3rd postoperative week. Abnormalities in sperm cells, normal head without tail, normal tail without head, bent mid-piece, curved mid-piece and rudimentary tail were all increased by the 4th week in IIR group though the total number of abnormal cells was observed to have decreased. The main effect of intestinal ischaemic-reperfusion injury on the semen characteristics of WAD goats is an increase in abnormalities with an adequate quantity of semen. Many of the abnormalities involved midpiece and tail abnormalities which are very vital to propulsion and may cause an inability of the sperm cells to fertilize. This hitherto silent phenomenon in farm animals may be the reason for iatrogenic causes of infertility.

Some reproductive indices of the Nigerian local bitches in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Some reproductive parameters of the Nigerian local bitches were studied at the kennel of the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Reproduction, University of Ibadan using 6 bitches and 1 stud aged between 2 and 3 years, weighing 10 to 12kg. The bitches were mated naturally by the stud at the second day of cytological oestrus and allowed to carry the pregnancy to term. The bitches and puppies were weighed weekly and observed till weaning.  Mean gestation length was 63.5 + 0.3 day. Mean litter size was 7.0 + 2.0 puppies.  Litter sex ratio was 1.25 females to 1 male puppy.  Mean birth weights were 308.3 + 15.3 and 286.3 +11.8 grammes for male and female puppies respectively, while the respective weaning live weights were 1.5 + 0.2 and 1.8 + 0.1kg. Litter size affected the birth weight; the mean birth weight of puppies with the litter size 10 was significantly lighter than those with litter sizes 7, 6 and 4 puppies. Mean age at testicular descent was 6.1 + 0.6 days while eyes of puppies were opened at mean age 15.4 + 0.2 days. Mean duration between whelping and first oestrus was 3.9 + 0.07 months. The neonatal mortality rate was 35.3%, more female puppies (26.4%) than male puppies (5.9%) died during the first week of life. These high mortalities might be due to cold and maternal negligence. With these basic data, the reproductive potential of the Nigerian local bitch can be harnessed.

Effects of honey, glutamine and their combination on canine small bowel epithelial cell proliferation following massive resection.

The effects of honey, glutamine and honey/glutamine combination on the healing and adaptive process of the bowel following massive small bowel resection were studied in some Nigerian nondescript breeds of dogs. 24 dogs (3-4 months old) of mixed sexes with mean body weight of 4.42±0.70 kg were studied. They were randomized into four treatment groups following 70% small bowel resection. Group A dogs were placed on glutamine treatment, Group B on oral glutamine/honey and group C on honey and group D normal saline (control). Their body weights were evaluated for 15 days and the pre- and post-treatment gut biopsy samples were obtained and processed for morphometric evaluation. All groups exhibited signs of small bowel adaptation (Glutamine/honey>glutamine > honey > control) at the end of the experiment (4 weeks). Glutamine/honey combination, glutamine and honey had gradual increase in body weight from days 3-15 of weight evaluation. The control group, however, had a remarkable drop in body weight compared with other groups. Oral glutamine/honey combination showed the best overall effect based on body weight gain, intestinal mucosal growth and adaptation, evidenced by increased in residual bowel Villi height (27.71µm), Villi weight (14.51µm), Crypt depth (11.25µm), and Villi density (3.40µm). Glutamine showed a better result than honey with a significant increase in villi height (38.08µm), width (8.48µm) and crypt depth (40µm). Histologically, an improved villi branching was observed with glutamine/honey combination. Our results showed that honey/glutamine combination had comparative therapeutic advantage over glutamine or honey and may be a preferred treatment for short bowel syndrome patients.