Bioscientifica Proceedings

Cryopreservation of female germplasm has basic importance in preservation and distribution of genetic lines in farm animals. Although vitrification technology has been applied for the cryopreservation of porcine oocytes and ovarian tissues, reduced developmental competence of preserved oocytes and the lack of offspring produced from them underlines the importance for further developments in cryopreservation protocols for this purpose. This review discusses the problems o...

Enhanced secretion of PGF2α from endometrial explants in vitro in response to oxytocin is associated with augmented activities of phospholipase A2, phospholipase C and prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthase (PGS). In early pregnancy, maintenance of the corpus luteum is associated with an absence of pulsatile PGF2α secretion; an increase in endometrial inhibitors of phospholipase A2 and PGS contribute to the antilute...

Abstract unavailableKeywords: inhibin; activin; follistatin. αN peptide; ovary; follicle; corpus luteum© 1991 Journals of Reproduction & Fertility Ltd...

Summary. Despite apparent progress in reproductive technology as applied to wild ruminants, the success achieved in terms of the number of offspring that become healthy adults has remained low. Difficulties often arise through a lack of knowledge regarding appropriate cryopreservation techniques, and indeed through a lack of detailed information on the reproductive physiology of the species in question. The Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica) is a wild cap...

Summary. Declining fertility and perturbations in reproductive development in a variety of species have been linked to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are ubiquitous in the environment. Ruminants are largely exposed to such chemicals in sewage sludge fertiliser widely used in animal production systems. This has been investigated experimentally through the deliberate exposure of pregnant ewes to sewage sludge fertilised pastures or cont...

During mammalian diapause, the embryo is arrested at the blastocyst stage. In diapausing carnivores and marsupials, growth arrest of the blastocyst is coincident with a quiescent corpus luteum (CL). In the roe deer, progesterone is produced throughout diapause and the blastocyst exhibits very slow growth. To date, early roe deer embryos of known age have not been described. Therefore, it is not known at which stage and at what pace the roe deer embryo enters diapause. To colle...

The phenomenon of embryonic diapause has been reported to possibly affect ovarian follicular development. The aim of the current study was to identify the impact of the embryonic diapause period on follicle number and oocyte quality in the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). In this species, the embryo undergoes five months of developmental delay. We have determined the antral follicle count (AFC), oocyte morphological quality, oocyte meiotic resumption capacity ...

Abstract unavailable© 2009 Society for Reproduction and Fertility...

With the advent of next generation sequencing platforms (RNA-seq), transcriptional profiling permits the characterization of millions of RNAs from even the most limiting samples like early embryos. High-throughput RNA-seq can generate over 600 gigabases (Gb) in a single sequencing run, providing a near-complete record of all of the genes expressed in a sample at the time of collection. Condensing and finding coherence in the immense amount of raw data generated by transc...

Summary. In calves made cryptorchid at birth, serum LH concentrations were elevated (P < 0.01) over those of intact controls by 7 weeks of age; a difference which persisted until after puberty. When intact and cryptorchid bulls were given LH-RH, i.v., at approximately 18 months of age, cryptorchid bulls were more responsive. Serum LH concentrations (mean ± s.e.m.) after 250, 1000 and 4000 ng LH-RH were 0.2 ± 0.03, 1.2 ± 0.3 and 12.1...