PREVENTION OF RETAINED PLACENTA BY INJECTION OF COLLAGENASE INTO UMBILICAL ARTERIES OF CALVES DELIVERED BY CESAREAN-SECTION - A TOLERANCE STUDY

In the cow, cesarean section delivery is often followed by retention o f fetal membranes. Hypothetically, the retention of fetal membranes co uld be prevented by intraplacental injections of the enzyme collagenas e. However, the infusion of this potent proteolytic enzyme into a uter us traumatized by surgery can lead to uterine damage, including perfor ation. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate tolerance of intraplacental treatment of bacterial collagenase. A cesarean secti on was performed on 10 experimental cows undergoing induced delivery o r diagnosed with dystocia. During the surgical procedure, 200,000 unit s of bacterial collagenase in 1 L of saline were infused via the umbil ical arteries. A cesarean section was also performed on control cows ( n = 25) affected by dystocia, but these received no collagenase. The c ollagenase-treated cows showed no clinical or laboratory signs of abno rmality over a 3- to 4-wk observation period post treatment. When memb rane retention time was set at 36 h post surgery, 20% of the experimen tal cows and 60% of the control cows had retained the fetal membranes. It was concluded that intraplacental administration of collagenase du ring cesarean section is safe. However, treatment effectiveness and ec onomic benefits for commercial application need further study. (C) 199 7 by Elsevier Science Inc.