Effects of analgesia of the distal interphalangeal joint or palmar digital nerves on lameness caused by solar pain in horses

OBJECTIVE: To determine if pain of the dorsal margin of the sole in horses can be attenuated by anesthesia of either the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint or the palmar digital (PD) nerves. STUDY DESIGN: A unilateral forelimb lameness was induced by creating solar pain. Response to administration of local anesthetic or saline solution into the DIP joint and to administration of local anesthetic around the PD nerves was evaluated. Animals: Six horses. METHODS: Lameness was induced by creating pressure on the dorsal margin of the sole by screwing set-screws into a nut welded to the inside of each branch of a shoe. Gaits were evaluated before and after application of set-screws and after a local anesthetic or saline solution was administered into the DIP joint and, in a second trial, after a local anesthetic was injected around the PD nerves. Gaits recorded on videotape were evaluated, and lameness scores were assigned to each gait. RESULTS: Lameness scores were high after application of set-screws and remained high after saline solution was administered into the DIP joint. Scores decreased significantly (P < or = .05) after a local anesthetic was administered into the DIP joint or around the PD nerves. CONCLUSIONS: Analgesia of the DIP joint or the PD nerves desensitizes at least a portion of the sole. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Pain arising from the sole should not be excluded as a cause of lameness when lameness is attenuated by analgesia of the DIP joint or PD nerves.     

In vivo capacitation and acrosome reaction of bovine sperm in estrous and diestrous cows

A staining procedure which enables distinction between spermatozoa possessing a true and false acrosome reaction (AR) was utilized to assess the incidence of capacitation and the true AR of bull spermatozoa recovered from the uterine horns of estrous and diestrous cows. Results show that at 3 and 6 h post-insemination, approximately 14.5 and 31.5%, respectively, of the live spermatozoa recovered had undergone a true AR in the uterus of estrous cows. An increasing percentage of those spermatozoa recovered from estrous cows with time were categorized as undergoing a false AR. This suggests that spermatozoa underwent capacitation, a true AR, then died prior to fixation and staining, therefore being grouped as false acrosome-reacted. Few spermatozoa were observed to have undergone a true AR in diestrous cows. It is apparent from this study that individual spermatozoa undergo capacitation and a true AR at different times during incubation in utero in estrous cows.     

Immunoglobulins in piglets from sows heat-stressed prepartum

Sows were subjected to moderate heat stress in a chamber (32 C) from d 100 of pregnancy until less than 8 h before delivery of first piglet, while control sows were in a thermoneutral chamber (21 C) or farrowing house (22 C). Blood serum and colostrum at parturition of heat-stressed sows and their piglets' serum at birth had elevated cortisol concentrations. Total protein, globulin and immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations in sow serum tended to decrease as parturition time was approached; albumin did not change. Total protein and IgG concentrations in colostrum at parturition and in milk 24 and 48 h later tended to be lower in heat-stressed sows. Concentrations of these four protein fractions (total, globulin, IgG and albumin) in piglet serum at birth did not differ among treatment groups, but soon after colostrum ingestion they increased markedly in all groups. Therefore, in all groups total protein remained constant while globulin and IgG decreased. Globulin concentration on d 1 was lowest in piglets from heat-stressed sows, but its rate of decrease after d 1 was not affected by sow treatment. Immunoglobulin G concentration was 11 mg/ml lower, but its rate of decrease through postnatal d 20 was slower in piglets from heat-stressed sows than in those from control sows; a 10-mg/ml difference in IgG concentration on postnatal d 1 has been associated with increased preweaning mortality in piglets. Higher cortisol concentration in serum and lower IgG in colostrum of sows under heat stress was associated in their piglets with higher serum cortisol at birth and lower serum IgG for the first 20 d postnatum.