The perinatal period has a critical impact on viability of the newborns. The variety of factors that can potentially affect the health of a litter during pregnancy, birth, and the first weeks of life requires proper attention from both the breeder and the veterinarian. The health status of puppies can be influenced by various maternal factors, including breed characteristics, anatomy, quality of nutrition, delivery assistance, neonatal care, and environmental or infectious agents encountered during pregnancy. Regular examinations and pregnancy monitoring are key tools for early detection of signals that can indicate disorders even before clinical signs occur. Early detection significantly increases the chances of puppies’ survival and proper development. The purpose of the review was to summarize and discuss the complex interactions between all elements that, throughout pregnancy and the first days of life, have a tangible impact on the subsequent fate of the offspring. Many of these components continue to pose challenges in veterinary neonatology; thus, publications presenting the current state of knowledge in this field are in demand.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is used in HIV‐infected patients. Alongside the prolongation of patients’ life, adverse side effects associated with long‐term therapy are becoming an increasing problem. Therefore, optimizing of HAART is extremely important. The study is aimed at evaluating the toxicity of abacavir and etravirine in monotherapy on the reproductive system, liver, kidneys, and bones in young, sexually mature, male rats. Thirty‐six 8‐week‐old male Wistar rats randomized into three 12‐animal groups received either normal saline (control), abacavir 60 mg/kg (AB group), or etravirine 40 mg/kg (ET group) once daily for 16 weeks. Semen morphology, oxide–redox state parameters (MDA, SOD, catalase, GPx, glutathione, GSH/GSSG ratio) in tissue homogenates (testes, liver, kidneys), and serum samples were studied. In bones, microcomputed tomography and a four‐point bending test were performed. Total sperm count, sperm concentration, motility, and sperm morphology did not differ significantly in AB or ET groups compared to the control. In the flow cytometry of semen, an increased percentage of cells with denatured DNA was noticed for both tested drugs. However, no significant changes of oxide–redox state in testicular homogenates were found, except of increased SOD activity in the AB‐receiving group. Additionally, ET significantly altered catalase and GPx in the liver and SOD activity in kidneys. Abacavir decreased catalase in the liver and GSH levels in kidneys. AB caused significant changes to bone microarchitecture (bone volume fraction, trabecular number, connectivity density, total porosity) and increased Young’s modulus. Etravirine had a greater impact on macrometric parameters of bones (tibial index, mid‐tibial diameter, femur length). After 4 weeks in the ET group, a lower 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D₃ serum concentration was found. The results showed that abacavir and etravirine disturb oxidative stress. An increase in the percentage of sperms with chromatin damage suggests decreased fertility in rats receiving the studied drugs. Both drugs affected bone formation in growing rats. Additionally, etravirine disturbed vitamin D metabolism.

Evaluation of body surface temperature change in response to exercise is important for monitoring physiological status. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of high-speed treadmill exercise on body surface temperature using infrared thermography (IRT) in selected body regions of healthy Beagle dogs, taking into account gait and recovery time. Thermographic images of the dogs were taken before exercise (BE), after walk (AW), after trot (AT), after canter (AC), just after second walk (JAE), 5 min after exercise (5 AE), 15 min after exercise (15 AE), 30 min after exercise (30 AE), 45 min after exercise (45 AE), and 120 min after exercise (120 AE). Body surface temperature was measured at the neck, shoulder, upper forearm, back, chest, croup, and thigh. Statistical analysis indicated the highest temperature at the upper forearm, shoulder, and thigh, and the lowest on the croup, back, and neck. The peak values of surface temperature in all ROIs were at AC and JAE and the lowest at 120 AE. The study demonstrated that body surface temperature was influenced by high-speed physical exercise on a treadmill and IRT was a viable imaging modality that provided temperature data from specific body regions. The proximal forelimb and hindlimb were the most influenced by exercise.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common problems in older male dogs that often has a huge impact on their health and welfare. This article presents a comparison between osaterone acetate (Ypozane^®; Virbac^®)(OA) and deslorelin acetate (Suprelorin^®; Virbac^®)(DA), medications that are the main therapeutic alternative to castration in dogs with BPH. Forty dogs were divided into four groups: I—negative control (five dogs without BPH); II—positive control (10 individuals diagnosed with BPH); III—15 dogs treated with DA, and IV—10 individuals treated with OA. Semen fractions were collected on days 0 (day of treatment), 7, 14, and 21, and weeks 8, 12, 16, and 20. Macroscopic, microscopic and CASA analyses were performed. Both DA and OA significantly affected the properties of the canine ejaculate. The DA lead to the lack of libido and had lesser effects to the sperm function before it caused azoospermia, whereas OA had no effect on libido and only temporary reduction in seminal plasma volume was observed, which resulted in temporary deterioration in the percentage of motile and progressive spermatozoa.

Epididymal spermatozoa obtained post mortem are considered a valuable source of genetic material which is often irrevocably lost. This makes these gametes constitute a key element in protection and restitution programs. The wisent (Bison bonasus, Linnaeus 1758) is a species that survived in zoos after extinction from its natural habitat. This resulted in a narrowing of the genetic pool of the whole population, which is at present derived from only 12 ancestors. Currently, wisent protection programs are aimed at preserving the genetic diversity by establishing a germplasm bank. The objective of this study was to comprehensively characterize the morphology, morphometry and functionality of wisent epididymal spermatozoa and evaluate the effectiveness of their cryopreservation in extender based on Tris buffer and chicken egg yolk. The median total number of spermatozoa obtained from one individual was 1985.0 × 10⁶ (62.5 × 10⁶–7452.0 × 10⁶). These gametes were characterized by median: 40.0% (0.5–70.0%) subjective motility, 69.8% (32.5–90.0%) viability and 54.3% (10.5–83.3%) normal morphology. The sperm head had a median size of 5.0 μm (3.5–6.7 μm) width, 8.5 μm (6.4–11.3 μm) length and 36.9 μm² (23.7–48.6 μm²) surface area. The viable population of the obtained gametes was characterized by median values 53.2% (4.5–80.3%) of intact sperm membrane, 50.8 (26.0–76.6%) of intact acrosome, 0.4% (0–98.7%) of fragmented chromatin, 5.9% (0.0–88.8%) of cells with high mitochondrial potential and 42.1% (8.3–63.7%) without lipid peroxidation. The viable population of the frozen/thawed gametes was characterized by median values: 18.4% (2.4–57.9%) of intact sperm membrane, 35.1 (11.9–56.7%) of intact acrosome, 0.07% (0–89.2%) of fragmented chromatin, 12.8% (0.0–49.7%) of cells with high mitochondrial potential and 16.3% (2.2–53.6%) without lipid peroxidation. Due to the material originating from a relatively large number of wild individuals, the research presented here contributed to the description of certain species standards for the assessment of wisent epididymal spermatozoa. The presented effect of cryopreservation on these gametes justifies the use of an extender based on Tris buffer with the addition of chicken egg yolk. The obtained effects are satisfactory from the point of view of preserving valuable genetic material and their use in ART.

The wisent (or European bison) Bison bonasus is a species that has gone through a bottleneck, resulting in a narrow gene pool of the current population. Presently, the protection program for this species, in addition to protecting the habitat, is aimed at preserving gene pool. One of its elements is creating a bank of gametes with the intention of using them in constantly developed Assisted Reproductive Techniques in this species. In order to use the potential of the gametes stored in the bank as effectively as possible, it is extremely important to assess their post-freezing quality. Wisent epididymal spermatozoa stored in the bank are evaluated using basic semen analysis methods, the CASA system and flow cytometry. So far, functional tests of spermatozoa have not been introduced to the evaluation protocol of spermatozoa obtained post mortem from European bison. This article, for the first time describes the use of the zona pellucida binding test to assess the quality of cryopreserved wisent epididymal spermatozoa. Due to the close relationship between the species, the Zona binding Assay protocol developed for cattle was used. To exclude the influence of the composition of the extender used for cryopreservation, the spermatozoa were cryopreserved in the Extender based on Tris buffer, egg yolk and glycerol and in the commercial extender Andromed ^® . Regardless of the diluent used, 100% of the oocytes had sperm attached. The average number of spermatozoa attached to the oocyte was 66.26 for the Tris-based diluent group and 27.37 for the Andromed ^® - frozen group. The advantage of the Tris based extender resulted from ZBA seems to coincide with the results of the basic and advanced semen evaluation. The conducted experiment showed that the ZBA protocol developed for cattle is suitable for the evaluation of wisent epididymal spermatozoa.