Andre DesrochersUniversité de Montréal | UdeM · Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Andre Desrochers
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
About
228
Publications
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
July 1992 - July 1995
Publications
Publications (228)
Our objective was to assess potassium monopersulfate as a disinfectant used in footbath to control digital dermatitis (DD) in dairy cows. We hypothesized that a potassium monopersulfate solution would control DD. A 180-day randomized negative controlled trial was conducted in a 265-Holstein free-stall facility. Throughout the trial, foot bathing wa...
BACKGROUND. Glucosensing elements are widely distributed throughout the body and relay information about circulating glucose levels to the brain via the vagus nerve. However, while anatomical wiring has been established, little is known about the physiological role of the vagus nerve in glucosensing. The contribution of the vagus nerve to inflammat...
The efferent and afferent effects of the vagus nerve on the developing brain have remained enigmatic. Here we review the evidence of such effects on microglial plasticity in the sheep model of human fetal development, one of the most recognized and deployed models of human fetal physiology. We show that vagotomy alters microglial phenotype and that...
Background: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) reduced inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in an adult rat sepsis model. A multi-dimensional heart rate variability (HRV) index reliably tracked the inflammatory profile in near-term sheep fetuses. The effects of VNS on neonates are not known. First, in a neonatal piglet model of sepsis, we pr...
When a streak canal injury occurs, there may be subtle or no external signs of damage. The first sign a producer notices is it takes longer for the injured quarter to empty or milk flow is impaired during milking. Given that a dairy cow with 4 efficiently functioning teats is essential to dairy production systems, an economically feasible procedur...
Digital dermatitis causes lameness, discomfort, and economic losses worldwide. The test considered the 'gold standard' for diagnosis of digital dermatitis is the visual inspection of the feet into a trimming chute. However, this test is challenging to perform in daily operations. For this reason, several alternative methods to diagnose digital derm...
Objective:
To evaluate the association between serum phosphorus concentration and the outcome of postpartum downer cows.
Animals:
Postpartum downer dairy cows presented over a 22-year period.
Procedures:
In this cross-sectional study (1994 to 2016), medical records of all postpartum downer cows presented to a referral large animal hospital wer...
The efferent and afferent effects of the vagus nerve on the developing brain have remained enigmatic. Here we review the evidence of such effects on microglial plasticity in the sheep model of human fetal development, one of the most recognized and deployed models of human fetal physiology. We show that vagotomy alters microglial phenotype and that...
Background
The chronically instrumented non-anesthetized fetal sheep (CINAFS) model has been a mainstay of human fetal development research for the past 60 years. As a large “two for one” animal model, involving the instrumentation of the ewe and her fetus, the model poses challenges to implement de novo and maintain overtime at the highest standar...
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prognostic value of lactate concentration measurements at admission in cattle with long-bone fractures.
ANIMALS
43 cattle with long-bone fractures between July 2016 and Dec 2018.
PROCEDURES
In this prospective cohort study, lactate concentration was measured in systemic venous blood and locally in capillary blood sample...
Platelet concentrate (PC) is an alternative therapy to treat mastitis in dairy cattle and is an alternative treatment for reproduction problems such as endometritis. Unfortunately, double-centrifugation processing methods described are time-consuming, require specialized laboratory equipment, and are usually done in a heterologous way, which risks...
Randomized clinical trial about ude of potassium monopersulfate to control bovine digital dermatitis
A 4-year-old recently castrated male alpaca was referred for preputial prolapse of 4 d duration. Clinical findings upon admission were a 5 cm edematous preputial prolapse with the exposed preputial epithelium ulcerated and slightly necrotic. Initial therapy included NSAIDs and local treatment. A severe local inflammatory reaction with a consequent...
Background
Hemodilution of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) could confound interpretation of results. Accurately predicting total nucleated cells count (TNCC) and total protein concentration (TPC) attributable to hemodilution is difficult.
Objective
To determine the effects of hemodilution on TPC and TNCC in bovine CSF.
Methods
Retrospective review...
Aim
Chronically instrumented non-anesthetized fetal sheep (CINAFS) have been the mainstay model of human fetal development for 60 years. As a large “two for one” animal model, with instrumentation of the ewe and her fetus, the model poses challenges to implement de novo and to maintain overtime at the highest standards of operating procedures to en...
The contribution of the vagus nerve to inflammation and glucosensing in the fetus is not understood. We hypothesized that vagotomy (Vx) will result in hyperglycemia and this will be enhanced during systemic and organ-specific inflammation. Efferent vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) should reverse this phenotype. Near-term fetal sheep (n=57) were surgic...
Clinical case presentations detail unique and clinically relevant anatomical features about the ruminant shoulder, antebrachium, distal limb, and claws.
Clinical case presentations detail unique and clinically relevant anatomical features about the bovine forestomachs, small and large intestine, and cecum. One case includes a discussion of the liver, and one case covers the kidneys.
Clinical case presentations detail unique and clinically relevant anatomical features about the ruminant lumbosacral plexus, pelvis, and coxofemoral and stifle joints.
Clinical case presentations detail unique and clinically relevant anatomical features about the ruminant head and neck, including the ear, sinuses, teeth, and central nervous system. One case on dehorning describes this distinctive anatomical feature of ruminants.
Background
Downer cow syndrome, a common problem in dairy cattle, represents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for the attending veterinarian. Identifying prognostic indicators and assessing the odds of survival may improve the accuracy of the clinician's prognosis at the time of diagnosis.
Objective
To describe a population of downer dairy c...
Objective:
To determine the stability bovine stifles stabilized with nylon or nitinol superelastic prostheses after transection of the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL).
Study design:
Ex vivo study.
Sample population:
Stifles (n = 15) harvested from adult bovine cadavers.
Methods:
The stifles were randomly assigned pairwise to a ligament recon...
Background: The chronically instrumented pregnant sheep has been used as a model of human fetal development and responses to pathophysiologic stimuli. This is due to the unique amenability of the unanesthetized fetal sheep to the surgical placement and maintenance of catheters and electrodes, allowing repetitive blood sampling, substance injection,...
Introduzione: In medicina bovina gli ascessi retroperitoneali sono stati riportati solo aneddoticamente e sono stati considerati come conseguenza di infezioni profonde del sito chirurgico, legate a laparotomie del fianco. L'obbiettivo del nostro studio è stato quello di descrivere l'anamnesi, i segni clinici, i reperti clinico patologici, il tratta...
Our first objective was to estimate the prevalence of foot lesions by type of milking system in dairy cows examined during regular hoof-trimming sessions between 2015 and 2018 in Québec dairy herds. A secondary objective was to describe the effect of day-to-day variation, cow, and herd characteristics on the prevalence of foot lesions. Data include...
Background
The chronically instrumented pregnant sheep has been used as a model of human fetal development and responses to pathophysiologic stimuli. This is due to the unique amenability of the unanesthetized fetal sheep to the surgical placement and maintenance of catheters and electrodes, allowing repetitive blood sampling, substance injection,...
Little is known about the vagus nerve activity in near-term fetuses. The chronically instrumented unanesthetized fetal sheep model is used to study human fetal physiology, because it permits chronic instrumentation with catheters and electrodes, which allow repetitive blood sampling, substance injection and recording of bioelectrical activity. We d...
Sole ulcers are reportedly one of the most prevalent diseases associated with lameness in dairy cattle, significantly affecting animal welfare and farm profitability. The degree to which sole soft tissues, healthy or ulcerated, are able to maintain their structure and function when subjected to compressive forces remains unknown. Therefore, the aim...
OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical and clinicopathologic characteristics, treatment, and
outcome for cattle that developed a retroperitoneal abscess (RA) following
paralumbar fossa laparotomy (PFL).
ANIMALS
32 Holstein cows with RA.
PROCEDURES
The record database of a veterinary teaching hospital was searched to identify cattle that were treated fo...
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) disruption is a common injury in human and veterinary medicine. Currently used surgical implants do not possess the same tensile properties as intact ACL. Nitinol, a superelastic alloy of nickel and titanium, could be a suitable intra-articular prosthesis. However, its behavior in synovial fluid is unknown. The obje...
Background
Abomasitis is a syndrome affecting young milk‐fed calves. The current veterinary literature describes mainly its necropsy findings.
Objectives
To describe the clinical presentation, complementary tests, treatments, and case‐fatality rate of calves with a clinical diagnosis of abomasitis and to identify potential factors associated with...
In adults, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) reduces inflammation. In neonates, the effects of VNS are not known. An electrocardiogram (ECG)-derived heart rate variability (HRV) index reliably tracks the inflammatory response induced by low-dose lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in near-term sheep fetuses. We evaluated the VNS effect on the systemic inflammator...
Digital dermatitis (DD) is a worldwide infectious disease of cattle that causes lameness, discomfort, and economic losses. The reference standard test to diagnose DD is visual observation in a trimming chute, which cannot be practically performed daily on dairy farms. Moreover, some lesion misclassification may occur using this standard diagnostic...
Objective:
Fetal heart rate variability (fHRV) is an important indicator of health and disease, yet its physiological origins, neural contributions, in particular, are not well understood. We aimed to develop novel experimental and data analytical approaches to identify fHRV measures reflecting the vagus nerve contributions to fHRV.
Approach:
In...
Neuroinflammation in utero may result in lifelong neurological disabilities. Astrocytes play a pivotal role in this process, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. No early postnatal treatment strategies exist to enhance neuroprotective potential of astrocytes. We hypothesized that agonism on α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) in feta...
Background
Characterization of the clinical signs, response to treatment and prognosis can be useful information for decision‐making when evaluating cattle with pharyngeal trauma.
Objective
To describe the signalment, history, clinicopathologic, endoscopic, ultrasonographic, radiographic, and postmortem findings as well as treatments and outcomes...
The term heterotopy of the spiral colon encompasses a dysmorphological condition in which the spiral loops of the ascending colon (SLACs) do not form an orderly spiraling mass adjacent to the left side of the mesojejunum. As a consequence, the spiral loops are spread over a larger surface, making them more or less movable. It has been hypothesized...
Objective
To report the clinical presentation, treatment, and outcome of cattle undergoing surgical extraction of apically infected cheek teeth (CT).
Study design
Short case series.
Animals
Nine adult cattle.
Methods
Medical records were searched for cattle having a diagnosis of apical infection of CT that were treated with surgical extraction b...
Digital dermatitis (DD) is a worldwide infectious disease of cattle with high prevalence in dairy herds. It is a painful disease with welfare issues causing economical losses. Identifying the affected animals is crucial to establish early treatment and evaluate the efficacy of a control strategy. The "gold standard" diagnosis of DD is the direct ob...
Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important indicator of health and disease, yet its physiological origins are poorly understood. The exact neural contributions to HRV are not well understood. In near-term fetal sheep, we aimed to identify fetal HRV measures reflecting the vagus nerve contributions to HRV. Fetal HRV was recorded during surgery and...
Neuroinflammation in utero may result in lifelong neurological disabilities. Astrocytes play a pivotal role, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. No early postnatal treatment strategies exist to enhance neuroprotective potential of astrocytes. We hypothesized that agonism on {\alpha}7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ({\alpha}7nAChR) in fetal...
Necrotic enteritis was studied in chickens using various in vivo infection models. Most of these use a combination of predisposing factors, such as coccidiosis and diet, with gavage or administration via the feed using Clostridium perfringens. In these models, the comparison of multiple C. perfringens strains for virulence studies requires a large...
Background:
Threshold values for total nucleated cell count (TNCC) and protein concentration in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of downer dairy cows suggestive of a spinal cord lesion were recently published.
Objectives:
Determine short- and long-term survival of downer cows that underwent CSF analysis using the reported threshold values. Evaluate the...
Digital dermatitis (DD) is a worldwide infectious disease of cattle with high prevalence in dairy herds. It is a painful disease with welfare issues causing economical losses. Identifying the affected animals is crucial to establish early treatment and evaluate the efficacy of a control strategy. The "gold standard" diagnosis of DD is the direct ob...
Objectives (1) To develop an evaluation grid to provide a systematic interpretation of calves' articular radiographs, (2) to describe radiographic lesions of septic arthritis in dairy calves less than 6 months of age, (3) to investigate potential associations between demographic data or synovial bacteriological culture results and radiographic lesi...
Objective
To describe clinical findings, surgical treatment, and outcome associated with duodenoduodenostomy for treatment of duodenal obstruction secondary to adhesions associated with the sigmoid flexure of the duodenum.
Study design
Retrospective study (1996‐2016).
Animals
Fourteen Holstein cattle.
Methods
Medical records of cows treated at 3...
The non-neuronal, immunological effects of the cholinergic signaling are exerted on the system’s scale of observation via the vagus nerve and on the cellular scale via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) signaling in myeloid cells of the periphery or brain’s microglia and astrocytes. The developmental effects of such multi-scale signaling c...
OBJECTIVE To describe clinical findings and diagnostic test results and identify potential prognostic indicators for calves with septic arthritis.
DESIGN Retrospective case series.
ANIMALS 64 calves with septic arthritis.
PROCEDURES The medical record database for a veterinary teaching hospital was searched to identify calves ≤ 6 months old that we...
Objective:
The utility of fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring can only be achieved with an acquisition sampling rate that preserves the underlying physiological information on the millisecond time scale (1000 Hz rather than 4 Hz). For such acquisition, fetal ECG (fECG) is required, rather than the ultrasound to derive FHR. We tested one recently dev...
Neuroinflammation in utero may result in life-long neurological disabilities. Microglia play a pivotal role, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. No early postnatal treatment strategies exist to enhance neuroprotective potential of microglia. We hypothesized that agonism on α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) in fetal microglia will...
The acute abdomen is a term used to characterize an animal presented as an emergency, in a more or less severe critical state, and for which medical and possibly surgical treatment will be necessary. To succeed, the clinician should use a systematic approach, have an excellent knowledge of the bovine abdominal anatomy, and have a good understanding...
Key Clinical Message
This is the first reported case in the veterinary literature of a knot in an epidural catheter. The report reviews this very rare complication and describes options for investigation and retrieval of catheters entrapped in the epidural space of any species.
A retroperitoneal abscess is a collection of suppurative fluid between the peritoneum, the transverse and internal oblique muscles. It was reported in cattle following laparotomy. The objectives of this retrospective cases-series study are to describe the clinical signs, clinical pathological findings, treatment options and outcome.
We developed an algorithm for high-quality, non-invasive maternal and fetal ECG (fECG) monitoring. We tested its ability to extract fECG from a single channel maternal thoracic ECG signal rather than the routine abdominal signal, and compare it with other algorithms. At 126dG, ECG was attached to near-term ewe and fetal shoulders, manubrium and xyp...
With a thorough knowledge of the anatomy of the foot, and basic surgical instruments, digit surgery can be performed in field situations. Sepsis of the distal interphalangeal and proximal interphalangeal joints should be treated surgically because conservative treatment is often ineffective. Most of the diseases described in this article are chroni...
Claw diseases are the principal cause of lameness in cattle. They can be easily diagnosed by examining the feet while the animal is in the trimming chute. Lameness originating from the proximal limb is more challenging because it is less visible. The author describes a systematic approach to diagnose upper limb lameness. The most common causes of l...
Background:
Diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) lesions in recumbent dairy cattle (RDC) is challenging because neurologic examination is limited and medical imaging often is challenging or unrewarding. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is useful in the diagnosis of CNS disorders in cattle. However, its utility in identifying spinal cord les...
Background:
The signalment, clinicopathologic, bacteriological, histopathological, ultrasonographic characteristics, and the treatment and outcomes of adult cattle with cholangiohepatitis are poorly defined.
Animals:
Thirteen Holstein cows with cholangiohepatitis.
Methods:
Retrospective study of medical records of cattle admitted to the CHUV a...
Neuroinflammation in utero may result in life-long neurological disabilities. Microglia play a pivotal role, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. No early postnatal treatment strategies exist to enhance neuroprotective potential of microglia. We hypothesized that agonism on α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) in fetal microglia will...
Objective:
To determine arthroscopic approaches to the dorsal and plantar synovial compartments of the tarsocrural joint in adult cattle, and to describe the arthroscopic intra-articular anatomy from each approach.
Study design:
Ex vivo study.
Animals:
Fresh adult bovine cadavers (n = 7).
Methods:
Two tarsocrural joint were injected with lat...
Background:
The chronically instrumented fetal sheep is a widely used animal model to study fetal brain development in health and disease, but no methods exist yet to interrogate dedicated brain cell populations to identify their molecular and genomic phenotype. For example, the molecular mechanisms whereby microglia or astrocytes contribute to in...
Lameness related to synovial infection needs to be addressed promptly because rapid degradation of the synovial homeostasis results in permanent cartilage alterations detrimental to complete recovery. Diagnosis is based on clinical signs, synovial fluid analysis, and imaging. Commonly affected joints are the fetlock, carpus, tarsus, and stifle; sho...
Objective
To describe the clinical findings, surgical treatment, and long-term outcome of dairy cattle undergoing partial hysterectomy with or without unilateral ovariectomy. Study DesignRetrospective case series. AnimalsDairy cattle (n=7). Methods
Medical records (June 2007-June 2014) of dairy cattle that had partial hysterectomy with or without i...
A wide variety of disorders affecting the intestinal tract in cattle may require surgery. Among those disorders the more common are: intestinal volvulus, jejunal hemorrhage syndrome and more recently the duodenal sigmoid flexure volvulus. Although general principles of intestinal surgery can be applied, cattle has anatomical and behavior particular...
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been used since 1997 for treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy. More recently, an off-label use of VNS has been explored in animal models and clinical trials for treatment of a number of conditions involving the innate immune system. The underlying premise has been the notion of the cholinergic antiinflammatory path...
This study evaluated the long-term prognosis of return to normal mechanical milking after reconstructive teat surgery and determined the factors that have an impact on the outcome. A retrospective study of 67 dairy cows with teat lacerations was performed. Milking status at discharge and at long-term follow-up was adequate for 83% and 75% of the co...
Objective:
To determine arthroscopic approaches to the dorsal synovial compartments of the antebrachiocarpal and middle carpal joints in adult cattle, and to describe the arthroscopic intra-articular anatomy from each approach.
Study design:
Ex vivo study.
Animals:
Six fresh adult bovine cadavers.
Methods:
Two carpi were injected with latex...
Fetal inflammation is associated with increased risk for postnatal organ injuries. No means of early detection exist. We hypothesized that systemic fetal inflammation leads to distinct alterations of fetal heart rate variability (fHRV). We tested this hypothesis deploying a novel series of approaches from complex signals bioinformatics. In chronica...
A. Graphical representation of the 51 fHRV measures in response to inflammation prior selection with of our method. Standardized variability measures were adjusted for the baseline contribution for different time-points for LPS (TOP) and Control (BOTTOM). Numbers at the bottom of X-axis indicate animals. Left Y-axis labels indicate keywords for var...
A
. Validation of fHRV signature using Hierarchical Clustering. Graphic representation of fHRV changes during the experiment in LPS (TOP) and Control (BOTTOM) with hierarchical clustering. Note the pronounced changes at 3 and 6 h post LPS, while no apparent pattern is visible in the control group over time. B. Highlights of Clusters forming at 3 an...
A 2-year-old Holstein cow presented with a history of colic signs of 3 days' duration that had not responded to routine medical therapy. Physical examination findings were consistent with tachycardia and colic. Ultrasonographic examination of the abomasum revealed a thin hyperechoic line producing a cone shadow. Radiography of the cranial abdomen r...