Preliminary study of the contraceptive effect of a self-assembling intrauterine device (iUPODs) in mares maintained in a paddock with a fertile stallion.

There is an urgent need for practical methods of population control (i.e., contraception and/or sterilization) for free-roaming (i.

Evaluation of a Proprietary Slow-Release Oxytocin Formulation on Corpus Luteum Function in Mares.

Prolonging function of the corpus luteum (CL) is a method of suppressing estrus that relies on continued secretion of endogenous progesterone to keep mares out of heat naturally. The use of oxytocin treatment to prolong CL function is gaining increasing use, and the most common treatment protocol involves administration of 60 units of oxytocin intramuscularly (IM) once daily on days 7-14 after ovulation (eight daily treatments). Although that protocol induces prolonged CL function in ≥70% of treated mares, the need for daily administration is a drawback to its use.

The Influence of Oblique Angle Forced Exercise in Surgically Destabilized Stifle Joints Is Synergistic with Bone, but Antagonistic with Cartilage in an Ovine Model of Osteoarthritis.

Large animal models of osteoarthritis are a necessary testing ground for FDA approval of human medicine applications. Sheep models have advantages over other available large animals, but development and progression of osteoarthritis in sheep is exceedingly slow, which handicaps progress in development of potential treatments. We combined oblique angle forced exercise to increase stress on the stifle, with surgical destabilization to hasten the development of osteoarthritis in ewes.

Manipulation of Ovarian Function Significantly Influenced Trabecular and Cortical Bone Volume, Architecture and Density in Mice at Death.

Previously, transplantation of ovaries from young, cycling mice into old, postreproductive-age mice increased life span and decreased cardiomyopathy at death. We anticipated that the same factors that increased life span and decreased cardiomyopathy could also influence the progression of orthopedic disease. At 11 months of age, prepubertally ovariectomized and ovary-intact mice (including reproductively cycling and acyclic mice) received new 60-day-old ovaries.