Artificial insemination in the cat

Alain Fontbonne DVM, PhD, Ass. Pr., Dipl.ECAR

Alfort Veterinary College Paris, France

Indications

In the domestic cat  Mating failure :  Low libido mainly in Persians  Sexually transmitted diseases  Geographical or genetical exchanges of semen  Unavailable males:  Castrated  Too old or dead

Induction of heats and ovulation

Use of gonadotropins   Equine chorionic gonadotropin: eCG  Long persistence in the organism:  One single injection is enough Human chorionic gonadotropin: hCG

Inconvenients of gonadotropins  Ovarian hyperstimulation :  Developpement of secondary follicles  Trouble of progesterone secretion during pregnancy  Inconstant efficacy  Repeated injections are imuno-sensibilising:  Less efficacy the second time

Other approaches  Mechanical stimulation of ovulation:  5 series of stimulations at 30 minutes intervals

Influence of anaesthesia on ovulation  No anaesthesia during the pre-ovulatory period ?

  Insemination after ovulation ?

 But: controversial :  cat: 56% success if insemination performed before ovulation versus 21% after ovulation (Tsutsui et al. 2000)

When to inseminate ?

 High interest of ovarian ultrasound

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 Evolution des follicules de chattes (Malandain et al. 2006) 1 2 3 jours 4 5 6

How to chech if ovulation was correctly induced ?

 Interest of blood progesterone assays

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 1

R 2 = 0,9808

2 3 4 Days post ovulation 5 6 7

Collection and conservation of cat semen

Collection of semen

Vagin Artificial vagina

Electro-ejaculation (matériel P-T Electronics, Boring, Oregon, USA)

Various protocols

Platz, 1978,

180 stim entre 2 et 8 V (2s,3s,1s, 3s OFF)  28 millions spz/séance

Pineda, 1978,

240 stim entre 1 et 6 V, (2 s; 2 s OFF)  14 millions spz/séance 6 V 4 V Rigid extension of the hindlegs 1 V 15 stim 5 min 1 V 2 V 60 stim 5 min

Howard, 1990,

80 stim entre 2 et 6 V, (1s; 3s; 1s; 3s )  20 millions spz/séance

Jonhstone, 1984,

50 stim entre 2 et 3 V, (3s; 3s; 1s; 3s OFF)  5-12 millions spz/séance Extension des postérieurs (2 à 3 V) 10 stim 10 min 2V 1 V 10 stim 2-3 min

Quality and quantity of semen collected Baudon 2003

Uretral catheterisation

Comparison uretral cateterisation – electro-ejaculation Zambelli et al.

2006

Semen conservation

Semen conservation  Conservation at room temperature  Refrigeration at + 4°C  Freezing in liquid nitrogen

Semen conservation  great difficulties due to bad quality semen in domestic and non-domestic felids

Teratospermia in cats

Cats often have teratospermic semen

Teratospermia in cats  Does it play a major role on infertility ?

 Which origin ?

    Lack of genetical diversity ?

 Consanguinity Hormonal origin ?

Inadequate nutrition ?

Stress ?

 Are they some compensatory mecanisms ?

  In the cat (Pukazhenthi et al. 2006):  Testicular hypertrophia and increase of the number of seminiferous tubules Role of repeated matings ?

Artificial insemination techniques

In the cat   First studies 20 years ago  Then…nothing more New recent interest

Intra-vaginal inseminations

Anatomy of the queen vagina

25mm 20 mm

Results  fresh semen :  Sojka et al.

100 x 10 6 1970: 54% (14/26) with doses of 50 to spermatozoids   Using higher doses (80 x 10 6 et al.

spermatozoids), Tanaka (2000), have obtained 78% pregnancies (7/9) Baudon 10 6 (2003) has obtained 4 pregnancies in 9 queens inseminated in the vagina with only 4 to 9 x spermatozoids.

 with frozen semen , only one publication mentions a 11% success (6/56) (Platz et al. 1978).

Intra-uterine inseminations

Surgical inseminations  laparotomy  laparoscopy

Transcervical catheterisation Chatdarong et al. 2001 Zambelli et Cunto 2006

Results  Intra-uterine inseminations allow :  To use 5 to 10 times less spermatozoids than intra-vaginal inseminations  Fresh semen :   Results highly variable Between 13 to 80% pregnancies with between 2 to 20 millions spermatozoids.

 Frozen semen:   Tsutsui et al.

(2000): 57% (8/14) after deposition in only one horn, with 50 millions spermatozoids Zambelli et al. (2006): frozen semen needs 5 times more spermatozoids than fresh semen

Intra-oviductal inseminations

 Tsutsui et al.

 2001 : 4 x 10 6  spermatozoids deposited in infundibulum 3 pregnancies in 7 inseminated queens

Conclusion  Many indications of artificial inseminations in the cat, but still low use by breeders  New insemination techniques are less invasives

Thank you for your attention