Superstimulation of ovarian follicular development in beef cattle with a single intramuscular injection of Folltropin-V

The need to inject FSH twice daily for superstimulation of ovarian follicular development in cattle necessitates frequent attention by farm-personnel and increases the possibility of failures due to mishandling and errors in administration of treatments. A series of three experiments were designed to evaluate the feasibility of superstimulation in beef cattle with a single intramuscular (IM) injection of Folltropin-V diluted in a hyaluronan-based slow-release formulation (SRF). In Experiment 1, cows were assigned to one of three treatment groups to compare two methods of injection as compared to the twice daily IM injection protocol. Superovulatory response of cows (n=6) treated with twice daily IM injections over 4 days (Control) was greater than of cows treated with a single subcutaneous (SC) injection in SRF (n=6), while superovulatory response of cows treated with a single IM injection in SRF (n=6) was intermediate. Experiment 2 was designed to compare two concentrations of SRF (20mg/mL hyaluronan, 100% compared to 10mg/mL hyaluronan, 50%) in a single IM injection protocol. The mean number of corpora lutea (CL) were not significantly different (P≥0.05), but the numbers of total ova/embryos (P<0.05), fertilized ova (P<0.01) and transferable embryos (P<0.001) were greater in cows treated with FSH in 100% SRF (n=20) than cows treated with FSH in 50% SRF (n=20). Experiment 3 was designed to compare superovulatory response in Red Angus donor cows treated with a single IM injection of Folltropin-V diluted in 100% solution of SRF with those treated with the traditional twice-daily IM injection protocol over 4 days. Mean (±SEM) numbers of CL (13.7±1.2 compared to 13.8±1.2), total ova/embryos (12.3±1.5 compared to 13.7±2.1), fertilized ova (7.2±1.1 compared to 8.4±1.4) and transferable embryos (4.9±0.8 compared to 6.4±1.3) were not significantly different between Control (n=29) and Single injection (n=29) groups, respectively. In summary, superstimulation of beef donor cows with a single IM injection of Folltropin-V diluted in 100% solution of SRF resulted in a comparable superovulatory response to the traditional twice-daily IM administration of Folltropin-V diluted in saline over 4 days.