title: Hysteroscopic insemination of small numbers of spermatozoa at the uterotubal junction of preovulatory mares.
abstract: Mares were inseminated with motile spermatozoa suspended in 30-150 microliters Tyrode's medium directly onto the uterotubal papilla at the anterior tip of the uterine horn, ipsilateral to the ovary containing a dominant preovulatory follicle of > or = 35 mm in diameter, by means of a fine gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) catheter passed through the working channel of a strobed light videoendoscope. Insemination of 10, 8, 25, 14, 11 and 10 mares with, respectively, 10.0, 5.0, 1.0, 0.5, 0.1 or 0.001 x 10(6) motile spermatozoa resulted in conception rates of, respectively, 60, 75, 64, 29, 22 and 10%. Deposition of 1.0 x 10(6) motile spermatozoa onto the uterotubal papilla began to approach the limit of successful fertilization. These doses are far lower than the 3-15 x 10(9) spermatozoa normally ejaculated by fertile stallions during mating, and the accepted minimum dose of 500 x 10(6) spermatozoa used for conventional uterine body insemination in mares. The simplicity of the technique offers a practical means of exploiting new breeding technologies that require very small numbers of spermatozoa in horse breeding.
authors.affiliation: University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine Equine Fertility Unit, Newmarket, Suffolk, UK.
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005187:Fallopian Tubes; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006736:Horses; D015907:Hysteroscopy; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D013076:Sperm Count; D013094:Spermatozoa