Delivering an Immunocastration Vaccine via a Novel Subcutaneous Implant

Simple Summary Male cattle (bulls) are often castrated as part of routine herd management. The benefits of this practice include the reduction of aggression and the elimination of unwanted pregnancies. However, castration represents an animal welfare concern as bulls are subjected to pain during and after the procedure. Surgical castration, in particular, places animals at increased risk of hemorrhage and infection. Immunocastration, a method involving vaccination against the hormones that regulate reproduction, offers a reduced-pain alternative to traditional castration, but the current products require multiple doses to effectively reduce fertility for extended periods. In an effort to improve upon current multi-dose immunocastration strategies, we evaluated the efficacy of a single-dose implantable immunocastration vaccine. This implant was designed to reduce fertility without the need for multiple doses, thus improving welfare for the animals as well as safety for producers and clinicians. The results presented here are promising and suggest that further refinement of the immunocastration implant could provide a convenient alternative to current immunocastration strategies. Immunocastration relies on the vaccine-mediated stimulation of an immune response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in order to interrupt spermatogenesis. This approach offers a less painful alternative to traditional castration approaches but the current, commercially available options require multiple doses of vaccine to maintain sterility. Thus, a series of pilot studies were conducted to determine the feasibility of a single-dose immunocastration vaccine implant. These five studies utilized a total of 44 Holstein bulls to determine the optimal vaccine composition and validate the ability of a stainless-steel subcutaneous implant to deliver a vaccine. Outcome measures included the duration of implant retention, scrotal dimensions and temperature, implant site temperature, anti-GnRH antibodies, and serum testosterone concentration. Over the course of several studies, anti-GnRH antibodies were successfully stimulated by vaccine implants. No significant treatment effects on scrotal dimensions or testosterone were detected over time, but changes in spermatogenesis were detected across treatment groups. Results indicate that a single-dose implantable immunocastration vaccine elicits a humoral immune response and could impact spermatogenesis in bulls. These findings provide opportunities for the refinement of this technology to improve implant retention over longer periods of time. Taken together, this approach will offer producers and veterinarians an alternative to physical castration methods, to improve animal welfare during routine livestock management procedures.