Blastocyst production after intracytoplasmic sperm injection with semen from a stallion with testicular degeneration.

In horse breeding, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has gained interest to obtain offspring from subfertile individuals. This paper presents a case report of a stallion with severe testicular degeneration. Semen analysis showed very low motility and 83.5% of detached heads. Histology of a testicular biopsy showed severely decreased spermatogenesis, while transmission electron microscopy of the sperm cells revealed no significant abnormalities. A total of 39 oocytes were fertilized by ICSI with frozen-thawed spermatozoa of this stallion: 25 oocytes with intact spermatozoa and 24 with detached heads. When using intact sperm cells, 8 out of the 25 oocytes cleaved, and 1 developed to the blastocyst stage 9 days after ICSI. None of the oocytes injected with a detached sperm head cleaved. Studies on the paternal influence on ICSI outcome are limited in the horse and further research is needed to define which stallion factors may influence ICSI results. Here, we report the possibility to produce a blastocyst by ICSI of a stallion suffering from testicular degeneration with a poor spermiogram, as long as an intact sperm cell containing a centriole is selected.

Malignant seminoma in two unilaterally cryptorchid stallions.

Two unilateral cryptorchid stallions were referred to the clinic because of chronic debilitating condition with emaciation. Rectal examination, and ultrasound and gross examination revealed in both animals an abdominal mass, caudally of the kidney, and multiple nodules spread over the abdomen. Histologic analysis revealed an intra-abdominal malignant seminoma with intraperitoneal and renal metastasis. Interestingly, a seminoma was also present in the descended testis of the draught horse.

Evidence for transfer of cellular and humoral immunity to cytomegalovirus from donor to recipient in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

In order to study the importance of the immune status of the donor in the development of immunity after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT), we monitored 23 cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibody-positive BMT recipients for humoral and cellular immunity to CMV, of whom 12 had a CMV antibody-positive and 11 a CMV antibody-negative marrow donor. Lymphocyte proliferation to CMV recovered significantly earlier after BMT in recipients of marrow from a CMV+ donor (10.4 weeks after BMT) compared with the recipients of marrow from CMV- donors (16.7 weeks after BMT, P less than 0.05). This seemed to be specific, as lymphocyte proliferation to phytohaemagglutinin and Candida were not different between the to groups. IgM responses after active infection were seen in both groups, but initial IgG rises without IgM were seen only in recipients of marrow from CMV+ donors (P less than 0.05). Lymphocyte proliferative or humoral immune responses to CMV were not detected in any of the patients in a control group consisting of nine CMV- recipients. These results indicate that T cell memory to CMV is transferred with donor marrow from CMV+ donors, leading in most patients to direct IgG anti-CMV responses and to quicker recovery of cellular immunity to CMV.