Cervical relaxation for non-surgical uterus access in Santa Inês ewes

ABSTRACT The present study was composed by two experiments aiming to develop a cervical dilation technique for non-surgical access to Santa Inês ewe’s uterus. In Experiment 1, thirty ewes underwent four epidural treatments. The three experimental treatments used 2.0mg/kg ketamine. The group receiving this drug alone was denominated KG, whereas other group had ketamine associated with 0.1mg/kg morphine (KM) and KX a third group had ketamine associated with 0.05mg/kg xylazine (KX). Control treatment was 1mL/7.5kg saline solution epidurally (CON). Cervical dilation was evaluated in both experiments by attempting to pass a metal rod through the cervix. In Experiment 2, three different hormonal protocols for cervical dilation were tested in thirty ewes. Epidural anesthesia with 2.0mg/kg ketamine was the control treatment (KG) and was combined with hormonal treatments: Misoprostol (MI); Oxytocin + Estradiol (OE); Misoprostol + Oxytocin + Estradiol (MOE). In Experiment 1 transposition rate was not different among groups. In Experiment 2, OE presented the highest rate (90%) while MOE presented 86.2%, MI 68.9% and CON 62.1%. The study developed a pharmacological protocol that increased cervical transposition making the non-surgical access to the uterus feasible in Santa Inês ewes.