Attempts at Superovulation of Mares With Porcine Follicle Stimulating Hormone and Recombinant Equine Follicle Stimulating Hormone

Attempts to superovulate mares have been disappointing and expensive. Conflicting data exist on the effectiveness of porcine follicle stimulating hormone (pFSH) as a superovulatory treatment for horses. Recently, a recombinant equine FSH (reFSH) has become available with covalently linked alpha and beta subunits, which results in a longer half-life than endogenous FSH. The purpose of this study was to compare doses of pFSH and reFSH for superovulating mares. Twenty-nine mares received injections of 25, 50, 100, or 150 mg pFSH or 0.5 mg reFSH 2 times per day. Mares were used up to three times, with their second reproductive cycle serving as an untreated control. All treated mares were administered cloprostenol on the second day of treatment and given 2,500 IU of human chorionic gonadotropin 24 to 38 hours after the majority of large follicles were >30 mm. Mares with untreated control cycles also received cloprostenol, but deslorelin was used to induce ovulation. No response from superstimulation treatments differed (P > .1) from those of controls; mean ovulations per cycle ranged from 0.85 to 1.31; mean embryo recovery rates ranged from 0.66 to 1.08. Two of the eight mares treated with reFSH failed to ovulate. Porcine FSH was ineffective at inducing multiple ovulations at any dose. Although previous studies of reFSH yielded high ovulation rates, further research is needed to establish optimal protocols and to determine the cause of failed ovulations.