Corneal collagen cross-linking following superficial keratectomy as treatment for corneal endothelial cell dystrophy in dogs: Preliminary clinical study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the outcome of corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) combined with superficial keratectomy (SK) as treatment for corneal edema due to corneal endothelial dystrophy (CED) in dogs. ANIMALS STUDIED: Four eyes of four dogs (3 Shih Tzus and 1 English Cocker Spaniel) with corneal edema due to CED were treated with SK and CXL. Two were males, and two were females. PROCEDURE: Depending on corneal thickness, 500-700 µm of edematous cornea was removed by SK. Next, CXL was performed by irradiating the cornea with UVA (365 nm) at 3 mW/cm² irradiance for 30 min after soaking with 0.1% riboflavin in 20% dextran every three minutes for 30 minutes. One drop of riboflavin was instilled every three minutes during irradiation. Slit lamp biomicroscopy and optical coherence tomography were used to examine the cornea during the follow-up period. RESULTS: The corneas had focal to diffuse edema, and the average corneal thickness was 1553 (1282-1900) µm. All corneas showed a significantly reduced corneal thickness and regained marked transparency immediately after treatment; however, the opacity increased as the corneal thickness increased during the follow-up period. Corneal vascularization (n = 4) disappeared within a month. Corneal pigmentation (n = 1) and bullae (n = 1) were observed. All cases showed marked reduction in corneal thickness; however, transparency was improved in only one case. CONCLUSION: Collagen cross-linking with SK has the potential to reduce the corneal thickness in CED cases; however, a lasting clinically significant improvement of corneal transparency seems unlikely. As the added benefit of CXL to the SK procedure is unclear based on the results of this study, combined treatment of CXL and SK for the treatment of corneal edema caused by CED is currently not recommended in dogs.

INTRAOCULAR SILICONE BALL IMPLANTATION AFTER EVISCERATION IN A SLOW LORIS (NYCTICEBUS COUCANG).

A slow loris, Nycticebus coucang , was brought to Ji Dong Beom Animal Hospital from the National Institute of Ecology due to globe enlargement and frequent blepharospasm of the right eye. Ophthalmic diagnoses included glaucoma with posterior lens luxation and cataract. Because this animal was on exhibition at the National Institute of Ecology, preservation of the eyeball by intraocular silicone implantation following evisceration rather than enucleation was selected. Before the surgery, examination of the normal left eye was performed using Retcam and spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Three months later, the globe size was almost the same as the left eye; however, corneal edema remained.

Evaluation of different cryoprotectants (CPAs) in boar semen cryopreservation.

This study was performed to evaluate the use of dimethylacetamide (DMA) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in boar sperm cryopreservation. Semen from eight boars was cryopreserved following treatment with 3, 5, and 7% DMA and DMSO, and 3% glycerol (control). After thawing, sperm conventional parameters and membrane integrities were evaluated. There were no significant differences among different DMA concentrations in all evaluations. Membrane intactness were higher in 5% and 7% DMSO than 3% DMSO (P<0.05). Sperm motility of 5% DMSO was lower than that of 3% glycerol (P<0.005), and membrane intactness were lower in 5% DMA and DMSO than 3% glycerol (P<0.05). DMA and DMSO didn't improve sperm quality and glycerol remains the most useful for boar sperm cryopreservation.

A comparative study of Sephadex, glass wool and Percoll separation techniques on sperm quality and IVF results for cryopreserved bovine semen.

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of spermatozoa separation techniques on sperm quality and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) results for cryopreserved bovine semen. Sephadex, glass wool and Percoll gradient separation techniques were used for sperm separation and sperm motility, morphology and membrane integrity were evaluated before and after separation. Also, cleavage and blastocyst developmental rate were investigated after IVF with sperm recovered by each separation technique. The motility of samples obtained by the three separation techniques were greater compared to the control samples (p < 0.05). The percentage of spermatozoa with intact plasma-membrane integrity, identified by 6-carboxyfluoresceindiacetate/ propidium iodide fluorescent staining and the hypo-osmotic swelling test, was highest in the glass wool filtration samples (p < 0.05). The cleavage and blastocyst rate of total oocytes produced from glass wool filtration samples were also higher than the control and Sephadex filtration samples (p < 0.05), but were not significantly different from Percoll separation samples. However, a significantly greater number of cleaved embryos produced by glass wool filtration developed to blastocyst stage than those produced by Percoll separation (p < 0.05). These results indicate that spermatozoa with good quality can be achieved by these three separation techniques and can be used for bovine IVF. In particular, it suggests that glass wool filtration would be the most effective method of the three for improving sperm quality and embryo production for cryopreserved bovine spermatozoa.