A New Device for Intrauterine Artificial Insemination in the Dog

Evaluation of bilateral vasocystostomy for canine sterilization

This study was aimed to evaluate canine vasocystotomy as a testosterone-preserving method of sterilization and investigate its potential post-operative complications. Five healthy adult male dogs underwent surgical procedure to transplant vasa deferentia to the urinary bladder. Under general anesthesia, caudal abdomen was opened and both vasa deferentia were ligated and transected. Then, the proximal free ends were sutured to mucosal layer of urinary bladder on its cranio-dorsal aspect. Serum testosterone level was measured on a weekly basis. Six-week postoperative assessments were performed including semen and urine sampling, ultrasound, contrast vasography, and tissue sampling. Statistical analyses revealed no significant differences in serum testosterone levels compared to its baseline value. Along with non-motile and broken spermatozoa, no cast or crystals were observed in urine samples. Semen analyses revealed azoospermia. No vasal obstruction or contrast leakage was observed in vasographs indicating bilateral patency in all dogs. Normal thickness of the bladder was found in ultrasounds. Histopathology showed normal testicular architecture and no inflammatory response was found in bladder or vas deferens following vasal transplantation. No significant change was found in testicular volume at the end of the study. This study suggested that vasocystostomy could be considered as an alternative method for canine sterilization with no significant changes in the testosterone concentrations and no evidence of postoperative complications. The preservation of testosterone could be regarded as an advantage and makes this approach favorable compared to the routine methods of sterilization especially for herding and guard dogs, because it prevents overpopulation while maintains the functionality.

Influence of somatic cell donor breed on reproductive performance and comparison of prenatal growth in cloned canines

Using in vivo-flushed oocytes from a homogenous dog population and subsequent embryo transfer after nuclear transfer, we studied the effects of donor cells collected from 10 different breeds on cloning efficiency and perinatal development of resulted cloned puppies. The breeds were categorized into four groups according to their body weight: small (≤9 kg), medium (>9-20 kg), large (>20-40 kg), and ultra large (>40 kg). A total of 1611 cloned embryos were transferred into 454 surrogate bitches for production of cloned puppies. No statistically significant differences were observed for initial pregnancy rates at Day 30 of embryo transfer for the donor cells originated from different breeds. However, full-term pregnancy rates were 16.5%, 11.0%, 10.0%, and 7.1% for the donor cells originated from ultra-large breed, large, medium, and small breeds, respectively, where pregnancy rate in the ultra-large group was significantly higher compared with the small breeds (P < 0.01). Perinatal mortality until weaning was significantly higher in small breeds (33.3%) compared with medium, large, or ultra-large breeds where no mortality was observed. The mean birth weight of cloned pups significantly increased proportional to breed size. The highest litter size was examined in ultra-large breeds. There was no correlation between the number of embryo transferred and litter size. Taken together, the efficiency of somatic cell cloning and fetal survival after embryo transfer may be affected significantly by selecting the appropriate genotype.