Ultrasonographic evaluation of testicles and epididymes of experimentally infected goats with Trypanosoma vivax

• Grant number: 20/07152-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2020
• End date: November 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction
• Principal Investigator: Lindsay Unno Gimenes
• Grantee: Beatriz Eustachio Boarini
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Trypanosoma vivax is a hemoparasite that affects the reproductive system and generates economic damage in production animals, with the testicles and epididymis being the main organs affected in males. Within animal reproduction, ultrasound is the main technique used for diagnosis and complementary evaluation to andrological examination. Although there is knowledge about the pathogenicity of the parasite, the informations about its effects in reproductive tract of young goats is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess whether the parasite produces detectable changes by ultrasound in the testicular and epididymal parenchyma. For this purpose, 13 male Saanen goats were used, aged 6 to 9 months and with an initial average weight (± EPM) of 30.2 ± 0.5 kg, with 8 of them being infected with T. vivax trypomastigotes (G-INF) and the others were kept as a negative control group (G-CON). The animals were submitted to Mode-B ultrasound examination (Z5-VET, Mindray), with a frequency of 7.5 MHz, for the evaluation of testicles and epididymides, at moments D3, D6, D13, D20, D27, D34 and D41 post infection. With the images obtained, computerized analyzes will be performed using the ImagePro Plus® analytical software, version 4 (Media Cybernetics Inc., San Diego, CA, USA), in which the presence of lesions, the average number of pixels and the tissue heterogeneity will be evaluated. It is expected to identify the alterations produced by T. vivax in male genital system of young goats through ultrasound examination.