LINCOMYCIN AND SPECTINOMYCIN IN THE TREATMENT OF BREEDING RAMS WITH SEMEN CONTAMINATED WITH UREAPLASMAS

Ureaplasma species were isolated from semen samples collected sequenti ally from one Awassi and three Assaf breeding rams. Each ram was injec ted subcutaneously with an aqueous solution of lincomycin and spectino mycin for five consecutive days at a dose equivalent to 4.5 mg kg(-1) lincomycin and 9.0 mg kg(-1) spectinomycin daily. Serum and semen samp les were collected at intervals during the treatment and assayed for l incomycin. No Ureaplasma species were isolated from semen samples coll ected during the course of the treatment and at intervals for 17 days after the last treatment. The concentration of lincomycin in semen ran ged from 0.51 mu g ml(-1) four hours after treatment to 0.08 mu g ml(- 1) 24 hours after treatment, and these levels were three to nine times higher than the corresponding serum concentrations.