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Abstract
Simple SummaryEndometritis is one of the most common disorders during the postpartum period in dairy cows. We investigated the efficacy of intrauterine infusion of a chitosan solution in uterine recovery in early postpartum dairy cows with or without endometritis, and their subsequent reproductive performance. We found that, compared to the absence of treatment, chitosan solution treatment during the early postpartum period (approximately 3 weeks after parturition) accelerated uterine recovery after parturition of dairy cows. These findings suggest that the administration of chitosan solution once in the early postpartum period may have antimicrobial effects on the uterus. We suggest that chitosan solution is a potential therapeutic candidate for endometritis that may replace prostaglandin F2α or antibiotic treatments.This study investigated the efficacy of intrauterine infusion of a chitosan solution (CHT) on uterine recovery in early postpartum dairy cows with or without endometritis, and their subsequent reproductive performance. In Experiment 1, cows with endometritis at 3 weeks postpartum were administered CHT (n = 5) and prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) (n = 4). Untreated cows (n = 7) served as the control group. In Experiment 2, 18 cows with a normally recovered uterus at the fresh cow check (mean, 35 days postpartum) were assigned to the CHT (n = 10) and control (n = 8) groups, and intrauterine infusion was conducted in the CHT group. Overall, in Experiment 1, the percentage of polymorphonuclear leukocytes significantly declined in the CHT group (32.3 ± 10.2 to 5.5 ± 2.4, p < 0.05) from week 3 to week 5, but no decline occurred in the PGF2α and control groups. In Experiment 2, the CHT and control groups showed no significant differences in reproductive parameters, suggesting the absence of adverse effects of CHT on fertility. These results suggest that intrauterine infusion of CHT in the early postpartum period effectively accelerates uterine recovery from endometritis and might be a suitable replacement for PGF2α administration.
Highlights
Endometritis is one of the most common disorders during the postpartum period in dairy cows
75% (12/16) of the examined cows were diagnosed with clinical endometritis based on the vaginal discharge score (VDS) score results before the chitosan solution (CHT) infusion at week 3 (W3)
We previously examined the effects of diagnosis and treatment of clinical endometritis based on the VDS grading system in postpartum Holstein cows, and the results indicate that cows with endometritis treated with prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) (VDS > 2) recovered and regained fertility more quickly than did untreated cows, and their recovery and fertility were comparable to those of cows without endometritis (VDS = 0)
Summary
Endometritis is one of the most common disorders during the postpartum period in dairy cows. Clinical endometritis is defined as the occurrence of purulent or mucopurulent vaginal discharge detected more than 3 weeks postpartum [1]. The results reveal that early treatment with prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α ) (within 40 days postpartum) might be effective in improving the reproductive performance of cows with clinical endometritis. The effect of PGF2α treatment on early postpartum endometritis is controversial since the treatment effect varies according to the presence or absence of a functional corpus luteum (CL) [3]. In Japan, the use of commercial drugs approved for the intrauterine treatment of endometritis is limited by regulations related to milk withdrawal periods. Farmers prefer avoiding the use of antimicrobial agents in high-producing dairy cows during the early postpartum period
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