Regional differences of testicular artery blood flow in post pubertal and pre-pubertal dogs

de Souza, M�rley B.; Barbosa, Claudia C.; England, Gary C.W.; Mota Filho, Antonio C.; Sousa, Carmen Vl�dia S.; de Carvalho, Gabriela G.; Silva, Herlon Victor R.; Pinto, Jos� N.; Linhares, Jussiara C.S.; Silva, L�cia D.M.

Abstract

Background

Measurement of testicular artery blood flow is used in several species to evaluate reproductive function and testicular and scrotal pathology. In dogs there are inconsistent reports about normal flow in post-pubertal dogs and no information concerning pre-pubertal dogs. The aim of this study was to describe regional differences in testicular artery blood flow in clinically normal post-pubertal and pre-pubertal dogs with no history of reproductive tract disease.

Results

The post-pubertal dogs produced normal ejaculates throughout the study. In all dogs the three different regions of the artery were imaged and monophasic flow with an obvious systolic peak and flow throughout diastole was observed on every occasion. The highest peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end diastolic velocity (EDV) were measured within the distal supra-testicular artery and marginal artery whilst the lowest PSV and EDV were measured within the intra-testicular arteries. Flow measurements were not different between left and right testes and were consistent between dogs on different examination days. Calculated resistance index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) were lowest in the intra-testicular arteries.
The pre-pubertal dogs had significantly smaller testes than the post-pubertal dogs (p < 0.05) and were unable to ejaculate during the study. The three different artery regions were imaged at every examination time point, and flow profiles had a similar appearance to those of the post-pubertal dogs. PSV, EDV, RI and PI showed a similar trend to the post-pubertal dogs in that values were lowest in the intra-testicular arteries. Notably, values of PSV, EDV, RI and PI were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in pre-pubertal dogs compared with post-pubertal dogs.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated important regional and pubertal differences in testicular artery blood flow of dogs, and form the basis for establishing baseline reference values that may be employed for the purposes of clinical diagnosis.

Citation

de Souza, M. B., Barbosa, C. C., England, G. C., Mota Filho, A. C., Sousa, C. V. S., de Carvalho, G. G., Silva, H. V. R., Pinto, J. N., Linhares, J. C., & Silva, L. D. (2015). Regional differences of testicular artery blood flow in post pubertal and pre-pubertal dogs. BMC Veterinary Research, 11(1), Article 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-015-0363-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 19, 2015
• Publication Date: Mar 4, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 22, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 22, 2016
• Journal: BMC Veterinary Research
• Electronic ISSN: 1746-6148
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 47
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-015-0363-3
• Keywords: Dogs, Doppler, Ultrasonography, Testis
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/748177
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12917-015-0363-3
• Contract Date: Nov 22, 2016