S. Omran

The reproductive tracts of 22 Friesian dairy cows were examined from seven to 35 days after insemination using a real time B-mode ultrasound scanner with a 7.5 MHz transducer. The earliest detection of pregnancy was at nine days when a vesicle was imaged within the lumen of the uterine horn. The early conceptus was seen at day 13 within the vesicle and these structures were followed ultrasonically until day 35. There was a sudden enlargement of the vesicle at day 19 and a heart beat was detected in the embryo at day 22. The allantois was imaged at day 23 and the amnion by day 29. The embryonic outline was clearly defined by day 33 when the body cavities could be discerned. This ability to determine pregnancy at an early stage should prove to be a useful technique in investigating the problems associated with early embryonic death in cattle.

Four cows were inoculated into the uterus with Actinomyces pyogenes between 30 and 41 days of gestation. Gross morphological changes were monitored by rectal palpation and with a realtime B-mode two-dimensional scanner with a 7.5 MHz transrectal linear transducer, shortly before infection and afterwards at three to 12 hours intervals. Two control groups of cows 27 to 50 days pregnant were used: two cows were inoculated with 6 ml of sterile saline into the uterine lumen and four cows were treated with cloprostenol (prostaglandin F2 alpha analogue). There was a change in the uterine fluid from a black, non-echogenic image before infection to a grey or cloudy echogenic image as early as 21 hours after infection. There was an increase in the thickness of the endometrium of the horns and body of the uterus. The embryonic membranes thickened and separated from the endometrium as early as four hours after infection, followed by cessation of the embryonic heart beat, opening of the cervix and abortion. Abortion was followed by an increase in the amount of echogenic intrauterine fluid leading to an increase in the size of the uterus, and the cervix remained open for at least eight days. The area of the corpus luteum remained greater than 2 cm2 throughout the whole period. Intrauterine inoculation with sterile saline had no effects, but the administration of cloprostenol was followed by the death of the embryo and abortion within 72 hours, and the regression of the corpus luteum from greater than 2 cm2 at treatment to 0.4 cm2, 24 hours after abortion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A twenty Iraqi local does were used in the current study. The allocated into donor group (10) and recipient group (10). All animal were treated with intravaginal progestagen sponges for 14 days, Induction of superovulation was conduced by injection of 1000, 500 IV of eCG to the donor and recipient groups respectively. The donor animals were served naturally at the time of estrous. Uteri of donor animals were washed with 50- 100 ml of PBS using the internal canola of Verris needle. Three embryos were collected and transferred to the uteri of two recipient animals using laparoscopy and surgical techniques.