The impact of percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration on sperm quality in mice.

Abstract: In laboratory mice, sperm quality is usually assessed in spermatozoa collected from the cauda epididymidis of freshly sacrificed males. Percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) is a non-terminal alternative that would allow repeated sperm collection for sperm quality assessment in living males. To test whether PESA is a suitable method to assess sperm quality, we compared sperm traits between samples collected by PESA vs the commonly applied terminal cauda epididymidis dissection.

Physiologic Effects of Prolonged Terminal Anesthesia in Sheep ().

The ruminant alimentary tract and its effects on blood homeostasis complicate prolonged terminal studies conducted under general anesthesia in sheep. We therefore studied 15 healthy female white alpine sheep that were undergoing prolonged anesthesia (> 30 h) for an unrelated terminal study. In the current study, all sheep developed a decreased hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration after induction of anesthesia, which fell further, along with a significant decrease in white blood cell count, over the course of anesthesia.