Abstract
An investigation was carried out to determine whether a pregnancy diagnosis could be made in swine by the cytological examination of vaginal smears on the basis of the principles of diagnosing pregnancy by the vaginal biopsy method.
Vaginal smear samples were collected from 326 swine of 5 breeds beginning with 17 days after mating. They were taken with a sampling instrument from the dorsal wall of the vagina and smeared on slides with phosphate buffer saline solution. They were fixed, stained with blue polychrome, and analyzed microscopically at 200- to 400-fold magnification.
The accuracy of diagnosis was 63.3% between days 17 and 24, 85.2% between days 25 and 34, 81.5% between days 35 and 44, 72.0% between days 45 and 69 after service. For the whole pregnancy, it was poor, or 78.1%.
In conclusion, this method was technically simpler than the biopsy method and useful for a supplementary diagnosis of pregnancy in gilts to which no rectal examination was applicable. Improve-ment was necessary in sampling technique and instrument to obtained high accuracy of diagnosis.
