Bioscientifica Proceedings

Studies in different animal models and humans give evidence that stress experienced by pregnant mothers affects foetal development and has long-term consequences on many physiological systems and behaviour in the offspring, thus facilitating the risk for disorders later in life. In farm animals, housing conditions or inadequate management practices during gestation may be potential stressors for the mother, which could affect growth, vitality, health and welfare of the d...

A technology that allows for manipulating of oestrus and ovulation, and would then also allow for fixed-time insemination, can be of great benefit for swine farms that operate using sow batch management due, at least in part, to savings in labour and the production of large batches of evenly developed pigs. Thanks to the current knowledge on endocrine regulation of follicle development and ovulation, and the availability of numerous reproductively active substances such ...

limiting factor to realizing the full potential of many of the new reproductive techniques is the lack of ahundant numbers of fertilizable oocytes. This problem could he addressed by using the large source of oocytes available from preantral and primordial follicles by developing systems for in vitro growth. In vitro systems that use early growing follicles as a source of oocytes have been developed for laboratory species and these have been successful ...

Summary. The consideration of the fetus as a semi-allograft by virtue of its paternally inherited histocompatibility antigens is generally accepted. Many hypotheses have been put forward to explain the immunological acceptance of the conceptus by the maternal immune system, but no single theory has proved to be adequate. Most studies so far have been carried out with laboratory rodents and men but corresponding investigations of farm animals and especiall...

The objective of this study was to investigate the precocious sexual maturation in stoat females. We confirmed oestrus and successful mating in newborn stoats; and documented ovulation, preimplantation embryo development, embryonic diapause and implantation during first nine months of life. A total of 100 embryos at different stages of development were flushed from the oviducts and uterine horns obtained from female stoats (Mustela erminea) between day 26 and day 251 ...

Keywords: prolactin; ovarian function; luteal cells; steroidogenesis; pig© 1990 Journals of Reproduction & Fertility Ltd...

Oocytes secrete factors that control cumulus and granulosa functions, including cumulus expansion and steroid hormone production. Some members of the transforming growth factor ß (TGFß) superfamily influence these activities, yet it is still not determined conclusively whether any of these superfamily members are the previously reported oocyte-secreted factors. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of TGFß1 and growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF-9) ...

Abstract unavailable© 1987 Journals of Reproduction & Fertility Ltd...

Keywords: pig; models; metabolism© 1990 Journals of Reproduction & Fertility Ltd...

In mammals, testicular differentiation is initiated by SRY (the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome) gene expression in Sertoli cell precursors, followed by upregulation of the SOX9 gene (SRY-related HMG box gene 9). Subsequently, differentiated testis produces two hormones that induce sexual differentiation of the internal and external genital tract. Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in gonadal differentiation has increased greatly over the past deca...