Sedation or anaesthesia decrease the stress response to electroejaculation and improve the quality of the collected semen in goat bucks

Abstract

Electroejaculation (EE) is stressful and probably painful; thus the administration of anaesthesia is recommended to decrease those negative effects. However, anaesthesia has a direct risk of provoking death, but sedation is less risky than anaesthesia. At the same time, α2-adrenergic agonists may improve semen quality. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare the physiological and behavioural responses indicative of stress and possibly pain, and the semen quality in electroejaculated untreated, anaesthetised or sedated goat bucks. Semen was collected from eight bucks using three different procedures in all them (EE in untreated bucks, EE under sedation or EE under general anaesthesia). The number of vocalizations during EE and the behavioural pattern before and after procedures were recorded. Pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score was also determined during EE. Rectal temperature, heart rate, serum cortisol concentration, biochemical and haematological parameters were measured before and after each procedure, and sperm characteristics were determined. Bucks vocalised more often when untreated than sedated or anaesthetised (P<0.02). The pain VAS score was greater when bucks were untreated than sedated or anaesthetised (P<0.002). The rectal temperature, heart rate, total protein, albumin and haemoglobin concentrations were greater when bucks were untreated than anaesthetised or sedated (P<0.02). Serum cortisol increased after EE (P=0.0006), without differences between procedures. The frequency and duration of lying down after EE were greater when bucks were anaesthetised than sedated or untreated (P<0.05), and were also greater when bucks were sedated than untreated (P<0.05). The number of times that the animal tried to stand up after EE was greater when bucks were anaesthetised than sedated or untreated (P<0.02). The sperm mass motility was greater when bucks were anaesthetised or sedated than when they were untreated (P=0.048). When animals were sedated, the ejaculate contained more spermatozoa with functional plasma membrane (P=0.03) and morphologically normal (P=0.05) than when they were untreated. In conclusion, general anaesthesia and sedation decreased the stress and probably the pain response provoked by EE and especially sedation improved the quality of the semen collected.

Effect of xylazine, detomidine, medetomidine and dexmedetomidine during laparoscopic SCNT embryo transfer on pregnancy rate and some physiological variables in goats

“…The decrease in physiological variables (HR, RR, and ruminal motility) following α 2 -adrenergic agonists were reported in other small ruminants such as sheep and goats [17,18] and camels [2]. By affecting the hormonal and nervous systems, α 2 -adrenergic agonists reduce HR, RR, and gastrointestinal motility [5,10,19]. The serum cortisol levels were signi cantly lower in different α 2adrenergic agonists groups than in normal saline.…”

“…There are articles using other procedures (electroejaculator, rumenotomy, etc.) that suggest the use of anesthetics/sedatives improves the outcome they are looking for [19]. Good restraint is important to getting a producer done e ciently and correctly.…”

Comparative ejaculatory response, fresh and frozen semen quality and fertility to artificial vagina vs electroejaculation method of semen collection in mithun ( Bos frontalis ) bulls

“…Some wild species, such as pampas dear males, vocalise during EE even under the usage of general anaesthesia (Fumagalli et al, 2015). Studies in different species have indicated that rams (Damián and Ungefeld, 2011), bucks (Abril‐Sánchez et al, 2018) and bulls (Falk et al, 2001; Whitlock et al, 2012) vocalise during EE. In bulls, breed differences were observed in the category of severe reactions to EE with Shorthorn x Hereford (SH) being more susceptible (Chenoweth & Osborne, 1978).…”

Acoustic characteristics of vocalisations emitted by the domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) during copula ejaculation and electro-ejaculation with or without anaesthesia

“…However, it seems that the response is highly species-specific. While rams and bucks frequently vocalise when EE is applied without anaesthesia Ungerfeld, 2011, Abril-Sánchez et al, 2017), vocalisations are not emitted if the animals are anaesthetised (Abril-Sánchez et al, 2018), or even subjected to epidural anaesthesia (Damián and Ungerfeld, 2010). On the other hand, pampas deer males vocalised during all the EE procedures even under general anaesthesia, and the latencies to the emission and the length and number of vocalisations were related to the voltage applied (Fumagalli et al, 2015), suggesting that anaesthesia was not able to block this response.…”

“…In humans, EE without anaesthesia is painful (Ohl, 1993), so its application to animals raises welfare concerns. The use of general anaesthesia in rams (Orihuela et al, 2009a) or sedation in bucks (Abril-Sánchez et al, 2018) are recommended to decrease the welfare concerns.…”