Fertilizing ability of canine spermatozoa cryopreserved with skim milk-based extender in a retrospective study.

We previously reported that skim milk (SM) is an effective cryoprotectant for cryopreservation of canine spermatozoa instead of egg yolk (EY), which is the conventional cryoprotectant. In this study, the fertilizing ability and practical use of frozen canine spermatozoa prepared with SM were evaluated by transcervical insemination. Frozen-thawed spermatozoa were inseminated one to four times on days 2-9 after the LH surge. In SM group, a single transcervical insemination (TCI) on Day 5 led to higher delivery rate (83%) than any other days (33%-50%) post-LH surge. In EY group, delivery rate in double TCI on days 5 and 6 (71%) was higher compared to any other experimental groups (0%-44%). Regardless of single or double, TCI on Day 5 or Day 6 led to higher litter sizes in SM or EY groups, respectively. The breeding efficiency and litter size of single TCI on Day 5 (4.2) and double TCI on Day 5 and Day 6 (3.7) were significantly higher than in the other experimental groups in SM and EY groups, respectively (p < .05). These findings suggest that skim milk is a suitable alternative to egg yolk for cryopreservation of canine spermatozoa, and the suitable timing for insemination might be on Day 5 post-LH surge.

[The treatment of hypertensive patients with renal insufficiency--a comparison of the blood pressure management in patients with diabetic nephropathy and patients with hypertensive nephropathy].

It is well known that hypertension (HT) is frequently accompanied with diabetic nephropathy (DN) and that HT contributes to progression of DN. Thus, proper anti-hypertensive therapy is required in hypertensive patients with DN. However, there is so far no consensus of optimal blood pressure (BP) level to maintain the renal function in these patients. In order to evaluate the optimal BP level in the patients with renal insufficiency, we investigated the relation between BP and renal function in 15 DN patients with HT (aged 56.9 +/- 11.7 years at the first medical examination; 6 male and 9 female, total 117 patient-years) and 20 patients with hypertensive nephropathy (aged 44.3 +/- 13.0 years at the first medical examination; 17 male and 3 female, total 207.5 patient-years) as the control, who receive antihypertensive therapy for more than 4 years as outpatients at the second department of internal medicine of Tohoku University Hospital between 1974 and 1990. During this period 7 patients with DN came to receive hemodialysis therapy 2 to 6 (average 3.8 +/- 1.3) years after the first medical examination. As a result, in patients with hypertensive nephropathy, there was a tendency to show that the lower the mean BP was, the better the renal function. On the contrary, in DN patients there was an optimal mean BP (MBP) range; i.e, when MBP was controlled in this range, the deterioration rate of renal function was delayed, while deviation of MBP from this range made the renal function worse (p less than 0.01). However, this range varied with the serum creatinine (SCr) concentration level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)