Novas abordagens na melhoria de sêmen em cães

The present abstract provides an overview over the causes of infertility in male dogs and ways to improve semen quality. Problems jeopardizing male fertility can grossly be divided into infectious and noninfectious diseases. Causes for a decrease in semen quality are bacterial and more seldom viral infections of the prostate gland, scrotum, testicle and epididymis. In these cases, B. canis should be additionally considered. Non treated acute inflammations of the testicles may become chronical, in these cases testicular fibrosis, obstruction of testicular ducts and at last atrophy leading to irreversible infertility may result; autoimmune orchitis should be considered when the result of a bacteriological examination is negative. Hormonal problems like hypothyreoidism may occur, however seldom cause fertility problems. In all cases, a clear diagnosis and fast treatment of the causative agent is required; different treatment options are enrolled. Different oral supplementations have been investigated for their ability to improve semen quality and daily application of the antioxidant vitamin E proved to be useful. After semen collection, the semen can be improved by centrifugation and dilution, addition of different antioxidants can be beneficial.