Uterine findings in Pantelleria jennies

The donkey of Pantelleria is an autochthonous breed of Sicily counting about 60 animals. Due to the excessive inbreeding rate, matings are strictly monitored and often not authorized. On the other hand, many jennies are quite aged and pregnancy losses reach unacceptable rates. As result, almost all the Pantelleria jennets were barren at the start of the reproductive season of 2022. In this study, 24 barren jennets (almost the entire adult female population) were gynecologically examined in March 2002. The mean age was 15 years (range 9-26 years). The animals had a good temperament but had been only occasionally visited in the past. Sedation of acepromazine (0.03 mg/kg) and detomidine (0.01 mg/kg) was performed to fasten the procedures and avoid distress to the animal. At the ultrasound, 21/24 jennets were cycling, 1 was in anoestrus and 2 were in a transitional period. Four on 22 were found in oestrus, 17 in dioestrus. Double and generally asynchronous corpora lutea were found in 6/17 jennets. Among uterine findings, cysts were found in 3/24, fluid in 1/24 jennets. The asinine cervix was very long, narrow, and sometimes laterally deviated. It was considered stenotic in 2 on 24. However, after a short training, operators were able to access the cervix, using delicate movements of the fingers. The insertion of a bacteriological swab was the first examination. Leaving the external sheath of the swab, cytobrush was inserted secondly to collect a sample for cytology and finally, an alligator Kenney forceps was inserted to collect a biopsy of the uterine body. The uterine culture was positive in 2 cases (St. epidermidis and E. coli). Cytology allowed a collection of epithelial cells in different secretory phases: a tall epithelium was detected during oestrus and dioestrus, cubic cells characterized the anestrus and transitional period. Inflammatory cells were detected including eosinophils, neutrophils, lymphocytes and macrophages, but a diagnosis of endometritis was not possible following the mare’s guidelines. Red blood cells were constantly observed because of the prolonged manipulation of the cervix. Uterine biopsies were evaluated according to the mare’s classification [1]. Haematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s trichrome were routinely used to evaluate the degree of inflammatory infiltration and fibrosis of the uterine glands. Grade I endometrial alterations (not significant) were observed in 13 cases, grade IIa (mild alterations) in 8 cases and grade IIb (moderate alterations) in 3 cases. The uterine findings reported in barren Pantelleria jennies may reflect the low foaling rate of the population that certainly requires strict management. However, we are not sure that the prognostic factors applied to the mare are exactly transferrable to the donkey. To our knowledge, this is one of the few studies on the uterine environment in donkeys [2, 3]. The approach to this species requires a minimum of training, but many pieces of information can be collected. Especially biopsies were able to reveal chronic endometritis and fibrosis in almost half of the studied population. Although the cervix during oestrus is more accessible, the optimum time for biopsy collection should be dioestrus, to avoid that oedema and an increased population of inflammatory cells may interfere with pathologist diagnosis.