Determination of Testicular Blood Flow in Camelids Using Vascular Casting and Color Pulsed-Wave Doppler Ultrasonography
Figure 4
Vascular casting of the right testicular artery within the testis from a virgin two-year-old male llama. This male was routinely castrated, and the testicular artery from the right castrated testes was cannulated. Sixty milliliters of heparinized saline was perfused through the testicular artery and out of the pampiniform plexus (testicular vein). The right testis was perfused with Batson’s no. 17 casting resin as described in Figure 2 to cast the arterial vasculature within the testes. The testis was placed into a 3% potassium hydroxide solution for 72 hours at room temperature to remove any remaining tissue. (a) Illustrates the technique for casting a castrated testis ( cm); (b) Illustrates the vascular cast produced from the right testicular artery within the testis illustrating the small vessels (recurrent rami) within the testis. Pulsatility could not be consistently measured with these vessels for use in the comparison of fertile and infertile camelids.
