From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2009-02-14 19:45:01 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] abstracts that will interest conservationists and breeders
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>, ferret-l@LISTSERV.FERRETMAILINGLIST.ORG, fg <ferret-genetics@yahoogroups.com>
BEGIN QUOTE
Reprod Fertil Dev. 2009;21(2):351-63.
The effect of the breeding season, cryopreservation and physiological
extender on selected sperm and semen parameters of four ferret
species: implications for captive breeding in the endangered black-
footed ferret.
van der Horst G, Kitchin RM, van der Horst M, Atherton RW.
Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape,
Private Bag X17, Bellville 7537, South Africa.
In the present investigation, comparative baseline information on
selected sperm characteristics of ejaculate spermatozoa of the
domestic (Mustela putorius furo), fitch (Mustela sp.) and black-footed
ferrets (Mustela nigripes) and the Siberian polecat (Mustela
eversmanni) are presented. The main emphasis was to establish
differences and similarities among these species in relation to semen
and sperm quality during the breeding season, in cryopreservation
success and in supporting sperm motility in different extenders or
physiological media. The results confirm that most sperm morphology
abnormalities were evident during the beginning of the breeding cycle
in all four species. No significant interspecies differences were
apparent in the sperm attributes examined, for all sampling months
during the breeding season. Moreover, all species exhibited comparable
patterns of reproductive seasonality. Cryopreservation suppressed
sperm characteristics equally in all species studied. Ejaculate
spermatozoa of closely related ferret species shared many similar
motion characteristics using computer-aided sperm motility analysis.
These results suggest that the basic sperm physiology of the ferret
species under examination is very similar. Disparate to the
interspecies comparisons, there were significant differences for most
sperm motion parameters when spermatozoa of any of the ferrets were
compared in different extenders. Assisted reproductive technologies
developed for use in domestic ferret, fitch ferret or Siberian polecat
may be successfully applied to captive breeding of the black-footed
ferret using semen during any of the functional breeding months.
PMID: 19210927
END QUOTE
URL:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19210927
Although work in a different species "cousin"), this is worth checking
to see if applicable, too, and is new to Pub Med as of several days ago:
BEGIN ABSTRACT
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19198077
Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol. 2008 Nov-Dec;(6):713-7.Links
[Approaches to pregnancy diagnosis in the sable (Martes zibellina,
Mustelidae, Carnivora) by noninvasive methods: postimplantation period]
[Article in Russian]
[No authors listed]
To develop a reliable approach to pregnancy diagnosis in sables based
on noninvasive methods of hormonal status assessment, the
concentrations of immunoreactive compounds (IRC) binding with
antibodies to progesterone have been measured in the feces of females
at different stages of the reproductive cycle. The results show that
this concentration is higher in truly pregnant than in mated but
nonreproducing females. An increase in the IRC concentration relative
to its individual baseline level may be regarded as a reliable
indication of true pregnancy.
PMID: 19198077
END ABSTRACT
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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