Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Premature ovarian failure (POF) is a reproductive disorder which causes defects within the ovaries, normally leading to infertility. The disorder affects 1% of women under the age of 40 with 75% of cases with no known cause, indicating the need for more research. The Double Mutant (DM) mouse model with oocyte-specific deletion of C1galt1 and Mgat1 exhibit follicular POF at 3 months of age. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of ovarian dysfuncti...

Introduction: Women with mutations in BRCA1 gene have an increased lifetime risk of ovarian cancer. Many studies but not all have shown that an adequate folate intake is protective against many cancers including ovarian, but recent studies have shown that high levels of folic acid (FA) supplementation can promote cancer risk. The aim of this study is to determine FA impact on the expression of cancer related genes in the ovary such as OCT4 a pluripotency factor, BRCA1 related ...

Introduction: Mature mouse oocytes, arrested at meiotic metaphase II (MII), are activated by a series of Ca2+ oscillations caused by sperm-specific phospholipase C zeta (PLCz) which has been shown to localize in cytoplasmic vesicles. The substrate for PLCz, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), is also present in cytoplasmic vesicles in MII oocytes. Throughout oocyte maturation there is reported to be a gradual increase in sensitivity to PLCz and ...

Introduction: It has recently been demonstrated that mouse oocytes respond to DNA damage by arresting in Meiosis I. This arrest has been shown to require the activity of the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) and the DNA Damage Response (DDR). Given oocytes lack the equivalent of a G2/M checkpoint for DNA damage, the SAC response may be critical to defend against formation of DNA damaged embryos. It is currently unknown whether the DDR SAC pathway is sensitive to physiological ...

Introduction: Hypoxia and Endothelin-2 (EDN2) peak simultaneously during early corpus luteum (CL) formation, suggesting causal relationship. Indeed, hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF1A) is a strong stimulator of EDN2 in granulosa–lutein cells (GLCs). Knockout of EDN2 resulted in un-ruptured follicles that failed to develop into CL, suggesting that EDN2 plays essential roles during ovulation. In agreement, EDN2 was low in GLCs of women with PCOS, characterized by ovula...

Introduction: In dairy cows, post-partum endometritis caused by Gram negative bacteria (e.g. E. coli) adversely affects follicular function and is associated with subfertility. However, there is limited information of the effects of endometritis on the corpus luteum (CL). Recently, we showed that LPS dose-dependently decreased luteal endothelial cell (EC) network formation in vitro. The hypothesis tested was that CL from cows with endometritis would have reduced vascu...