Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), a severe lameness-causing bacterial foot disease, significantly impacts the sheep industry's economy and welfare. Treponema species responsible for bovine digital dermatitis (BDD), including Treponema medium, Treponema phagedenis, and Treponema pedis, have been identified in CODD lesions. In this study, Treponema spp. was detected in 42 skin samples from 110 sheep that had footrot lesions (38%). The lesions were more presented on hindlimbs (55.5%). The Kurdish sheep breed exhibited the highest Treponema positivity rate with 47.8% (n = 20), while pure Afshari sheep and Afshari-Kurdish hybrids showed an equal prevalence of 26.2%. The prevalence of lesion scores 4 and 5 in the Treponema-positive group (33.3% and 40.5% respectively) was significantly higher compared to the Treponema-negative group (23.5% and 11.8% respectively) further underscores the potential role of Treponema infection in the progression of severity of the infection. The southern region of the Khorasan Razavi province exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of Treponema-positive cases (88.1%, n = 37) compared to the northern regions (7.1%, n = 3) and Mashhad (4.8%, n = 2). This is the first report of investigation of the possible presence of CODD in Iranian sheep flocks, which should be potentially considered to prevent negative impacts on sheep production, welfare, and antibiotic use (improper antibiotic usage) in the farms.

Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), is an economically important disease of livestock, especially sheep and goats, where it can cause early embryonic death and resorption, fetal death and mummification, abortion, stillbirth, and neonatal death.Cats are the main reservoir for the toxoplasmosis which can contaminate the environments of other animal and human beings by their faeces that contain sporulated oocysts. Toxoplasmosis is diagnosed mainly by direct smear, Immunohistochemistry, serology testing and PCR. Preventive measures include education of the farmers, reduce environmental contamination by oocysts, reducing the number of cats capable of shedding oocysts, limiting the breeding of cats to maintain healthy adults, control of future breeding and adequate continuous control programs of stray cats. Feeding cats with commercial diets or with food processed either by cooking or freezing can reduce the risk of disease transmission. A live vaccine (Toxovax®) is commercially marketed in some countries for reducing losses to the sheep industry from congenital toxoplasmosis. History, Life cycle, Clinical signs, Diagnosis, Mode of transmission, Epidemiology, Treatment, Control, Prevention and Vaccination against T. gondii infection in small animals have been reviewed in this article.

Background: in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes has increasing potential applications in assisted reproductive technology (ART), during which germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes culturedin vitro to produce mature (MII arrested) ones. Although functional, IVM oocytes have low developmental competence compared to in vivo matured oocytes; possibly because IVM comprises asynchrony between nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation in which nuclear maturation precedes cytoplasmic maturation.Therefore, considering the central role of cAMP as the regulator of nuclear maturation, a number of studies have attempted to develop biphasic IVM strategies in which nuclear maturation is transiently delayed through inhibition of several pathways of cAMP production in oocytes. In this study, we investigated the effect of cilostameide, inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 3, on induction of meiotic arrest in ovine oocytes.Materials and Methods: Immature ovine oocytes derived from abattoir ovaries were immediately cultured in presence of three concentration of cilostamide (1, 10 and 20 mm) for 22 hours (prematuration culture medium, PMC). Nuclear status of treated oocyte and non-treated oocytes after culture in PMC were assessed using H33342 staning for investigation of meiotic arrest ability of cilostamide.Results: GVBD occurs 4 hours after IVM and at 8 hours post IVM approximately %100 of ovine oocytes undergoes GVBD. In oocytes treated with 1, 10 and 20mm for 22 hours, respectively 55, 65 and 72 percent of oocytes are arrested at GV stage while only 4% of control oocytes are arrested at GV stage after 22 hours (p< 0.05).1 mm cilostamide cause lowest meiotic arrest and 20 mm cilostamide cause highest meiotic arrest. futher studies are needed to investigate cytoplasmic maturation markers of prematured oocytes.Conclusion: Cilostamide cause nuclear arrest in ovine oocytes by a dose dependant pathway.

Background: Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is rich in nutrients, growth factors, hormones, and other essential compounds necessary for cell growth. However, its use has several disadvantages. Platelets in particular contain the majority of the potent mitogenic factors found in serum. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of platelet lysate (PL) on in vitro embryo production by replacing FBS, to determine if this modified Charles Rosenkrans medium (mCR2aa) can support ovine embryo development compared to the commercially available BO-IVC medium. Methods: In the first experiment, varying concentrations of FBS (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 10%) and PL (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 10%) were investigated in the mCR2aa culture medium. In the second experiment, the optimized mCR2aa medium was compared to the BO-IVC medium. Ovine oocytes were matured and fertilized in vitro using BO-IVM Bioscience medium and Brackett and Oliphant medium, respectively. Subsequently, the resulting zygotes were cultured in either mCR2aa medium supplemented with amino acids or BO-IVC medium, according to the experimental design, under a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2, 5% O2, and 90% N2 at 38.5ºC. Results: The results indicated that using 5% PL in the mCR2aa culture medium reduced the serum percentage to 2.5%. Conclusions: It was not possible to completely eliminate serum from the mCR2aa medium solely by substituting it with PL. Further studies are needed to explore other serum properties such as chelating agents and antioxidant activities to fully optimize the mCR2aa medium without serum.

Background: Antioxidant supplementation promotes the fertilizing capacity of post-thawed ram spermatozoa.Objectives: This study was designed to validate the effect of different levels of coumestrol as an antioxidant on post-thawing parameters of cryopreserved spermatozoa in rams. Methods: A total of 60 ejaculates were collected from six sexually mature Barki rams. The accepted semen samples were extended, pooled, cooled, and then divided into five aliquots: A control group (tris-based egg yolk extender) without coumestrol addition, and 4 aliquots with concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 µM of coumestrol. These aliquots were then subjected to the cryopreservation process. The control and treated frozen semen were thawed and assessed for motility using computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, mitochondrial activity, comet assay for DNA integrity, acrosome integrity, and casein kinase 2 alpha 2 (CK2α2) gene expression.Results: The addition of 1 µM of coumestrol significantly improved progressive motility. Metabolic activity was significantly higher in semen treated with 1, 10, and 100 µM coumestrol compared to control and 0.1 µM coumestrol groups. Furthermore, acrosome integrity was significantly higher in the 0.1 and 1 µM of coumestrol groups. In the 1, 10, and 100 µM coumestrol groups, TAC was significantly higher than in controls. Furthermore, MDA levels were significantly lower in all coumestrol groups compared to the controls. The comet assay exhibited a significant reduction in fragmented DNA in semen treated with coumestrol, especially with the addition of 1 µM coumestrol. The expression of CK2α2 showed a significant fold decline in semen supplemented with 10 and 100 µM coumestrol compared to the control group.Conclusion: The addition of 1 µM of coumestrol could ameliorate the deleterious impacts of cryo-damage by improving the sperm antioxidant capacity, mitochondrial activity, and both acrosome and DNA integrity.