Exfoliative Endometrial Cytology in Embryo Donor Cows-Comparison of Sampling Localizations for the Diagnosis of Subclinical Endometritis.

Janna Egberts,Sabine Meinecke-Tillmann,Jan Detterer,Arno Park

doi:10.3390/vetsci3040035

Janna Egberts, Sabine Meinecke-Tillmann + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci3040035

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Abstract

Subclinical endometritis has a major effect on the reproductive performance of dairy cows and also on the success of embryo collection. Thus it is important to minimize the number of false-negative diagnoses. In order to evaluate the question of whether or not a single cytobrush sample is representative of the whole endometrium, 53 German Holstein embryo donor cows in the northwest of Germany were examined via the cytobrush method at three different localizations of the uterus: the uterine body about 0.5 cm cranial of the cervical canal and both uterine horns about 1.5 cm cranial of the bifurcation. Although the mean percentage of polymorphonuclear neutrophils at the three locations is not significantly different (p = 0.64), the individual variations lead to the conclusion that more than one sample of the endometrium should be taken into account when diagnosing subclinical endometritis in embryo donor cows.

Highlights

Subclinical endometritis (SE) is defined as a postpartum inflammation of the endometrium in the absence of any signs of clinical endometritis such as purulent vaginal discharge [1]
Due to the impact of estrus cyclity, including the infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), which is lower on superficial compared to deeper layers of the endometrium, uterine biopsies are more sensitive to physiological changes than endometrial cytology [8,9]
Samples are taken from the most superficial layers of the endometrium, which makes cytobrushing insensitive to changes during the estrus cycle [5], which results in a reduction of false-positive outcomes

Summary

Introduction

Subclinical endometritis (SE) is defined as a postpartum inflammation of the endometrium in the absence of any signs of clinical endometritis such as purulent vaginal discharge [1]. In order to diagnose SE, the proportion of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) in endometrial samples is evaluated. Due to the impact of estrus cyclity, including the infiltration of PMN, which is lower on superficial compared to deeper layers of the endometrium, uterine biopsies are more sensitive to physiological changes than endometrial cytology [8,9]. It is recognized that there is low correlation between endometrial biopsies and exfoliative cytology for diagnosing uterine disease [5]. Samples are taken from the most superficial layers of the endometrium, which makes cytobrushing insensitive to changes during the estrus cycle [5], which results in a reduction of false-positive outcomes. And without regard to the possibility of localized events, cytobrush samples are mainly taken from a single intrauterine localization, based on the

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