UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine researchers recently published their success using frozen thawed sperm for 

The assisted reproductive technologies at UC Davis made this the first time this procedure was performed successfully for equine embryos. Currently, the birth of a foal has not occurred.

According to the organizational release, IVF is commonly used in many species ranging from humans to livestock but is has been historically met with little success when it comes to equine patients. However, recent advancements have demonstrated IVF embryo production, but only if a high quality, fresh sperm is used, which creates limits to its use. There is also not a lot of information for IVF equine reproduction, such as how the embryos develop and if it is differing a lot from other reproduction approaches. 

Pouya Dini, DVM, PhD, DECAR, DACT, an equine reproductive specialist lead a team, including Soledad Martin-Pelaez, DVM, DACT, a PhD student, and Stuart Meyers, DVM, MS, PhD, DACT, professor emeritus, to be able to report they have successfully fertilized equine oocytes and create embryos from frozen-thawed sperm. The team analyzed the stages of embryo development an compared it to those achieved with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

 production of equine embryos with a single sperm injected directly into an oocyte. The team noticed overall development rates were no different, but IVF cycles proceeded faster, and the embryos were larger. These findings suggest a more advanced developmental stage, but further research is needed to assess its potential to be fully established as a commercial tool.

production (IVP) enables production of offspring from mares and stallions that cannot reproduce in the traditional techniques, giving them a chance for genetic advancement as well as reproductive success. Frozen-thawed sperm for IVF also present the opportunity to further expand reproductive options by potentially using stallions that are geographically distant, allowing the use of sperm from stallions that are actively competing, or there is a limitation on the amount of semen available, and potentially help save valuable genetics from deceased stallions.

“Our team is excited to advance IVP of equine embryos to overcome historical challenges,” said Dini, in the release.

 “The ability to use frozen-thawed sperm for IVF would be a valuable addition to current equine assisted reproductive technologies and would benefit both stallion and mare owners. This collaborative effort is the first step in evaluating the expansion of future equine IVF applications in the clinic.”

There is still a need for further resource to evaluate pregnancy outcomes and foal bred through IVF embryos produced with frozen-thawed sperm. The team mat UC Davis are assessing the genomic influence of fertilization techniques on equine embryos to help gain and provide further information about the quality of IVP equine embryos, the release concluded.

The study was support by UC Davis Center for Equine Health.

Young A. UC Davis First to Produce Equine Embryos By In Vitro Fertilization with Frozen Sperm. UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Published November 7, 2024. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-first-produce-equine-embryos-vitro-fertilization-frozen-sperm

Martin-Pelaez S, Fuente A, Takahashi K, et al. IVF with frozen-thawed sperm after prolonged capacitation yields comparable results to ICSI in horses: A morphokinetics study. 

. Published online November 1, 2024. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2024.10.032

Articles

Researchers at the school shared this milestone can help provide valuable opportunities to study fertilization, embryo development, and more

UC Davis achieves first equine IVF with frozen sperm

Janice O’Brien, DVM, MPH, DACVMP, and a United States Army veteran, did not always know she would pursue a career in veterinary medicine and research. However, after exploring materials science and engineering and working as a US Army veterinarian and rural practitioner, O’Brien is now a PhD student researcher at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she is studying canine nutrition and epidemiology.

Janice O’Brien, DVM, MPH, DACVPM. (Photo courtesy of Janice O’Brien, DVM, MPH, DACVPM)

O’Brien first earned a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in 2012 before going on to earn her doctorate in veterinary medicine from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 2016, while simultaneously completing a master of public health degree. “I think my core, driving interest has always been just trying to figure out how the world works, and to figure out how to learn how the world works, and so that’s what originally brought me to materials science and engineering,” O’Brien said in an interview with 

“But after I got into…doing some research as an undergrad…I learned about biopolymers and all the cool things that they can do. With my interest in the biopolymer aspect, and [because] I had always loved working with animals—I raised Seeing Eye dogs when I was in high school—I decided I might want to be a [veterinarian] and actually become a research [veterinarian]… and so I applied to veterinary school,” O’Brien continued.

After graduating from Purdue, O’Brien served 5 years as a US Army veterinarian, primarily stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, later renamed Fort Cavazos. O’Brien shared that her military connections date back to her childhood, with her mother and grandfather also serving in the armed forces. “It’s kind of like a family thing, so I think I’ve always been around the military for my [entire] life, but to actually go in and be a service member is kind of a completely different ballgame,” O’Brien shared. 

She also explained that her time in the military not only gave her practical epidemiology and real-world public health experience but also helped form her identity. “I think there’s a lot about who I am that is definitely impacted and influenced by my military experience,” she said.

O'Brien inspecting military vehicles during her time in the Army.

According to O’Brien, the practical experiences she had in the Army helped nurture her passion for epidemiology, although the interest was already there during her time in veterinary school. One event that gave O’Brien practical epidemiology experience during her time in the military involved a potential threat of an anthrax outbreak after the discovery of a bloated cow in one of the training areas at Fort Cavazos. O’Brien shared that the practical work varied, from obtaining a sample for testing to waiting for the test results and following specific protocols to avoid exposure. According to O’Brien, although the tests confirmed the substance was not anthrax, the situation provided her with real-life experience in the field.

“From one day to the next you’re like, ‘What am I going to have to respond to today?’ So I guess I got some epidemiology experience on the practical side of things, the…knowing and applying how diseases are spread, and telling people what they can and can’t do, or how worried they should or shouldn’t be about a particular thing,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien explained that Army veterinarians are involved in extensive public health work, including conducting food inspections at military bases and commercial facilities, as well as responding to disease outbreaks and communicating important health information. During the COVID-19 pandemic, O’Brien and the surgical detachment unit she oversaw were one of the units that were sent to New York, New York, to help stand up the temporary hospital facility at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

O’Brien shared that she enjoyed being part of this public health joint effort. “[The Army] was a lot of real-world experience on so many different fronts.… I think that that has really informed how I understand evident epidemiology research, and just to kind of understand the breadth of different experiences and things that people can have and where they can come from in their lives. So I think that was really important to make me a more understanding researcher,” she said.

After leaving the Army, O’Brien spent some time in a rural, private small animal practice in Virginia before “feeling the need for transition,” which drew her to academia and research.

Now, as a PhD student, O’Brien hopes to address gaps in canine nutrition research by focusing on real-world feeding practices and their impact on pet health, rather than just clinical studies. With new large-scale data from projects like the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, O’Brien hopes to better understand how nutrition affects the lives of everyday dogs.

One of O’Brien’s current projects involves analyzing data from the Dog Aging Project, focusing on how owners prepare homemade diets for their dogs, by coding this information into qualitative, usable data. Additionally, she is conducting a Lyme disease study, comparing the disease in dogs and humans.

From the Army, to the veterinary clinic, to the classroom, Janice O’Brien, DVM, MPH, DACVMP, PhD candidate, and US Army veterinarian, shared key moments of her life story that led her to where she is right now

An Army veterinarian’s unexpected journey

Joya Griffin, DVM, DACVD, shared common challenges veterinarians face when diagnosing felines with allergic diseases

The challenges of diagnosing cats with allergic diseases

 at the Fetch Coastal conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Joya Griffin, DVM, DACVD, talked about the challenges involved in diagnosing and treating allergic diseases in cats, particularly when compared to dogs. One challenge, Griffin explains, is when pet owners have objections to treatments, such as diet trials and flea control.

 Cats are often a challenging species to work with. Their clinical lesions are often different than what we typically would see in a dog with allergic disease, and they can be challenging to do diagnostic trials in. A lot of times, the pet parents may have objections to treatment. They may have objections to doing diet trials or putting them on consistent flea control, especially in indoor-only cats, and often cats live with multiple cats, and so doing some of our treatments and diagnostics can be a little bit more challenging when you have multiple cats in a household.

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Good morning and happy Monday dvm360 readers! We are officially less than a month away from Fetch Long Beach. Join the dvm360 team, our amazing faculty, and hundreds of fellow veterinary professionals to learn, network, and have fun all in one spot! It is not too late to register so check out the 

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Here is what you can find this week on dvm360.com:

In recognition of Veteran’s Day, dvm360 will share the story of Janice O’Brien, DVM, MPH, DACVPM, to discuss how she became a United States Army veterinarian, the impact of military services, and where her career is now.

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine shared researchers had the first successful use of frozen-thawed, sperm for 

 fertilization production of equine embryos, having the potential for broader clinical applications and more opportunities to study fertilization and embryo development.

Colorado votes voted to approve a new midlevel practitioner position, known as a veterinary professional associate, receiving 52.3% yes votes with 78% of the votes tailed as of November 7, 2024, despite pushback from the American Veterinary Medical Association and Colorado Veterinary Medical Association.

On this week’s episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, chats with Anne Chauvet, DVM, DACVIM, CHT-V, on how to approach physical exams for neurologic patients.

Invoxia recently announced that its artificial intelligence wearable, Minitailz, now has been integrated with a new atrial fibrillation risk estimation feature. The algorithm for the device was created in collaboration with Cornell University’s Veterinary School.

Here is a sneak peek of this week’s headlines 

Sneak peek: Colorado voters say yes to midlevel practitioner position, and other veterinary news

Dysbiosis, a condition where the microbiome is altered, can be difficult to diagnose. In his lecture “Dysbiosis in Small Animals—What Do We Know,” Jörg M. Steiner, DrMedVet, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), DECVIM-CA, AGAF, regents and university distinguished professor of small animal internal medicine and Dr Mark Morris chair in Small Animal Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Texas A&M University department of small clinical sciences, talked about the intestinal microbiome, and the diagnosis and treatment of intestinal dysbiosis.

Presented at the 2024 New York Vet Show in New York, New York, the session began with an explanation of what dysbiosis is.

 Steiner explained that the umbrella term “intestinal dysbiosis” encompasses various intestinal conditions in cats and dogs:

Antibiotic-responsive diarrhea (ARD): Diarrhea improves with antibiotics like metronidazole

Tylosin-responsive diarrhea (TRD): Steiner noted that it is unknown if TRD is the same ARD, as tylosin is an antibiotic that also has an immunomodulator function. Whether the diarrhea improves because tylosin is an antibiotic or because it is an immunomodulator is not known

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO): It is uncertain if SIBO is a real condition, as the current tools utilized are not sophisticated enough to evaluate the intestinal microbiome

“…we just came up with the term ‘intestinal dysbiosis,’ because it sort of summarizes all [of these conditions] without knowing whether all of these things are, in fact, the same thing,” said Steiner during his lecture.

“The clinical signs [for intestinal dysbiosis] are like for any other [gastrointestinal] (GI) disease,” explained Steiner. These signs include chronic intermittent diarrhea and, if the condition has persisted, weight loss. Patients may also have additional clinical signs that are caused by the underlying cause of the dysbiosis.

So how is intestinal dysbiosis diagnosed? According to Steiner, historically, a quantitative culture of duodenal juice was, and still is, considered the gold standard for evaluating the intestinal bacterial ecosystem. However, as Steiner explained, it is now understood that this method fails to provide a comprehensive picture of the intestinal microbiota.

Additionally, duodenal juice collection often presents several challenges, and if it is successfully collected, the sample requires plating on various media and dilutions to achieve thorough species identification, which is just not efficient.

Conducting a non-specific fecal culture has also been recommended. However, Steiner warned against this method. “A basic fecal culture will be absolutely nothing for you, because many of the bacteria that are bad are not easily culturable. And so…what you get on the fecal culture [results] are the first, let's say, 5 or 6 different species, and those could be beneficial bacteria. Those could be even the potentially pathogenic bacteria, but [it is] unlikely [that the results are] going to be your true pathogenic bacteria,” emphasized Steiner. 

He explained that if, for example, a bacterial culture is done without specifically culturing for 

, it will not be picked up in the culture as the microbiota of fecal matter is very complex and cannot be accessed by non-specific culture.

Many bacterial species utilize cobalamin and use it up, making serum cobalamin concentration measurement a better method for diagnosing intestinal dysbiosis, explained Steiner. “The problem [with] cobalamin [is]…you cannot differentiate why the cobalamin is low. Is it low because the ilium is damaged and you can no longer absorb the cobalamin, or is it because the bacteria are stealing the cobalamin? There's no way to differentiate that,” said Steiner.

“Cobalamin is very helpful for other reasons, because it is very important to know prognostically, what's happening, but for diagnostic reasons, it's helpful to identify small intestinal disease, but it's not so helpful to identify small intestinal dysbiosis,” he continued.

According to Steiner, the GI Lab at Texas A&M has developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays that assess the fecal levels of 7 bacterial groups in addition to the total number of bacteria. These assays utilize a mathematical algorithm to report changes as a single numerical value, called the dysbiosis index (DI), according to Steiner. He explained that a negative DI suggests normobiosis, while a positive DI indicates dysbiosis.

Specifically, this index is trained to identify dysbiosis related to chronic enteropathy in cats and dogs. Overall, the dysbiosis index is a significantly more effective diagnostic tool for identifying intestinal dysbiosis compared to existing methods, according to Steiner.

Dysbiosis in Small Animals—What Do We Know

. Presented at: 2024 New York Vet Show; November 7- 8, 2024; New York, NY.

Jörg M. Steiner, DrMedVet, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), DECVIM-CA, AGAF, talked about the pros and cons of various methods for diagnosing patients with dysbiosis in his lecture at the 2024 New York Vet Show

Diagnosing intestinal dysbiosis

In this interview with Dr Andrew Rosenberg how to diagnose and then treat feline allergies

Interview with Andrew Rosenberg, DVM, DACVD

Andrew Rosenberg, DVM, DACVD: My name is Andrew Rosenberg, I am a veterinary dermatologist. I working with the Animal Dermatology Group as a clinical dermatologist in both the Wayne, New Jersey, and White Plains, New York, offices. I’m also the director of medical operations for the entire group, which is the largest dermatology group in the world. Additionally, I’m the president of the American College of Veterinary Dermatology, so I’m involved with the organization that board-certifies all veterinary dermatologists.

Sometimes clinicians like to imagine that cats are small dogs, right? But they’re totally different. I think dog allergies are just more straightforward than cat allergies because cats just have a mix of all of these or one of these reaction patterns, and so it can be difficult to accuralty diagnose cats. Cats can also be much pickier eaters, which makes it more difficult to do a food trial with them. Treating allergic cats is much challenging because it’s often harder for owners to medicate them than it is with dogs. So, there are a lot of pitfalls and challenges both with diagnosing and treating cats, 

There could be a whole lecture for that. For treating infections, anything you can do in the office can be helpful, right? So, things like convenia injections to treat skin infections if cats have skin infections as a result of their allergies. Then, as far as you know, diagnosing accurately, that's kind of similar. If these reaction patterns are are non seasonal, you perform food trials, and you just perform food trials with food that that the cat will eat. And so it's always good to have a few different food options in your pocket. So if the cat doesn't like one you can go to another one. I tend to really like the Rayne nutrition brand of foods for novel protein diets. There are some good hydrolyzed diets out there as well

For for diagnosing environmental allergies, right? We don't use allergy tests to actually diagnose allergies, we use allergy tests to formulate immunotherapy. So to really diagnose allergies, it's really a diagnosis of rule outs. You have to make sure the cats are in good flea control, make sure that you're treating all the infections, make sure there's no fungal infection, amke sure there's no ectoparasites. So that's kind of my tip is just make sure that there's you're ruling out every other possible item before you make that diagnosis of allergy. And then it's up to the owner to be able to medicate their cat, which, which can be difficult. 

Andrew Rosenberg, DVM, DACVD, shares the complexities of diagnosing and treating feline dermatology conditions, and how to make it easier for teams and clients. 