Vaginal Smear

Detection of the estrous cycle is essential for basic reproductive aspects in all animals. Both natural mating and assisted reproductive techniques require estrous detection for breeding programs which will assist to maintain the tiger population in captivity. This research aims to explore alternative methods for tiger conservation in the remote area. Vaginal smear and neutrophil count were used to determine the phase of estrous cycle, and it easily applied on the field. Vaginal smears and blood smears were collected twice within interval 6 months n a female tiger at Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation Rescue Centre. While tiger was restrained mechanically, blood samples were collected from the coccygeal vein and the vaginal smears were collected intravaginal. All procedure followed the animal welfare protocol. Vaginal smears were stained by 10% Giemsa. Basal/parabasal, intermediate, and superficial/cornified cells were identified to determine the reproductive periods under the mi...

The use of vaginal smears for the study of the reproductive patterns of Neotropical bats has not been employed using a standardized protocol. We developed and evaluated a protocol, based on this technique, for the identification of the estrous cycle in an assemblage of bats in the Caribbean region of Colombia. The protocol for vaginal smears in bats was performed in three phases: 1) sampling in the field, 2) staining of vaginal smears, and 3) vaginal cell counts. Vaginal smears were taken and external reproductive characteristics were determined in the field. The results of these two data sets were compared for estimation of estrous status. Significant differences were detected between the proportions of different types of vaginal cells found in the smear samples. Overall, 95% of the females characterized as reproductively inactive based on external traits were found to be reproductively active according to vaginal smear characteristics; the remaining percentage of inactive reproductive cases coincided with the information obtained from vaginal smear technique. The use of the vaginal smear protocol allows the accurate determination and quantification of the reproductive status of individuals and populations of Neotropical bats. We conclude that this protocol offers a standardized method for the collection of individual reproductive status information in Neotropical bats. RESUMEN. Citologías vaginales: una fuente clave de información del ciclo estral en murciélagos neotropicales. el uso de citologías vaginales para el estudio de los fenómenos reproductivos de los murciélagos neotropicales no ha sido implementado bajo un protocolo estandarizado. Evaluamos e implementamos un protocolo de cito-logías vaginales, con el objetivo de probar su eficacia para la identificación del ciclo estral de un ensamblaje de murciélagos en el Caribe colombiano. El protocolo para realizar citologías vaginales en murciélagos neotropicales se dividió en tres fases: 1) toma de muestras en campo, 2) coloración de citologías vaginales y 3) conteo de células vaginales. La prueba se realizó bajo condiciones de campo, registrando los caracteres externos repro-ductivos tradicionales, los cuales se confrontaron con los resultados de las citologías vaginales. Se encontraron diferencias significativas entre la proporción de los diferentes tipos de células contadas en las láminas de las citologías vaginales. El 95% de las hembras caracterizadas como inactivas mediante el registro de caracteres externos se encontraban en algún estado reproductivo de acuerdo a las citologías vaginales; el porcentaje res-tante de hembras caracterizadas como inactivas también presentó inactividad reproductiva según las citologías vaginales. El uso de este nuevo protocolo de caracterización reproductiva permite describir y cuantificar con

Detection of the estrous cycle is essential for basic reproductive aspects in all animals. Both natural mating and assisted reproductive techniques require estrous detection for breeding programs which will assist to maintain the tiger population in captivity. This research aims to explore alternative methods for tiger conservation in the remote area. Vaginal smear and neutrophil count were used to determine the phase of estrous cycle, and it easily applied on the field. Vaginal smears and blood smears were collected twice within interval 6 months n a female tiger at Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation Rescue Centre. While tiger was restrained mechanically, blood samples were collected from the coccygeal vein and the vaginal smears were collected intravaginal. All procedure followed the animal welfare protocol. Vaginal smears were stained by 10% Giemsa. Basal/parabasal, intermediate, and superficial/cornified cells were identified to determine the reproductive periods under the microscope. Blood smears were stained by Giemsa-Wright. Neutrophils were counted within 200 white blood cells count under the microscope. The result showed that female tiger was in the follicular phase and neutrophil count was 78 cells at the 1 st sample collection. The 2 nd sample collection resulted in luteal phase with 55 neutrophils count. This research suggests vaginal smear and neutrophil count can be used as an alternative method of tiger estrous phase detection. In addition, these methods have economical and practical value.