Background: Endometritis is a common disease of the reproductive system in canine dams. The purpose of this study was to develop a standardized histopathological diagnostic classification criteria for canine endometritis. Forty bitches were ovariectomized, and their endometrial tissues were pathologically classified by imaging, anatomical and hematological diagnostic evaluation. Expression of IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 mRNAs in uterine tissues were also detected by RT-PCR.Results: Endometritis was grouped into one of four classifications: Cystic endometrial hyperplasia (CEH) (no inflammation), mild inflammatory infiltrate, severe inflammatory infiltrate (hyperplastic) and severe inflammatory infiltrate (atrophic). Direct comparison of the experimental results was complicated by the varying degree of disease severity in individual animals and the diagnostic criteria currently in use by researchers.Conclusions: It is concluded from this study that most of the dogs with clinical manifestations were characterized by endometrial hyperplasia with severe inflammatory infiltration, while the endometrial hyperplasia with mild inflammatory infiltration was not significant. In addition, endometrial cystic hyperplasia-like lesions were also found in asymptomatic bitches who underwent physiological sterilization.

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