USE OF 6-PERCENT DEXTRAN-70 FOLLOWING SURGICAL EMBRYO COLLECTION IN EWES AND DOES IN AN ATTEMPT TO PREVENT ADHESION FORMATION

Thirty-six ewes and 19 does were randomly assigned to control (15 ewes and 9 does) or treatment groups (21 ewes and 10 does). Ventral midlin e laparotomy was performed 6-8 d after d1 of estrus. Number of corpora lutea (CL) and oocytes/embryos were recorded and compared. Treated an imals received 500 ml 6% dextran 70 intra-abdominally following uterin e flushing. Control animals received 500 ml 0.9% NaCl irrigation solut ion. At the time of the second laparotomy, degree and extent of adhesi on formation were assessed and scored on a scale of 0 to 3, and CL and embryos/oocytes were counted and compared. There was no difference in adhesion scores between control and dextran-treated groups for ewes ( P greater-than-or-equal-to 0.61) or does (P greater-than-or-equal-to 0 .43). Number of live embryos at the second surgery in control ewes was higher than in dextran-treated ewes (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01) bu t not in does (P greater-than-or-equal-to 0.53). Likewise, there was n o beneficial effect of dextran on total number of embryos recovered in either ewes (P greater-than-or-equal-to 0.43) or does (P greater-than -or-equal-to 0.22). We conclude that dextran had no effect on adhesion formation and no positive effect on viable embryo recovery rates foll owing surgical embryo collection.