Reproduction Abstracts

Many studies demonstrating that the environment a pregnant female experiences can have profound and sometimes persistent effects on offspring development use extreme experimental perturbations which do not reflect the range of environments a pregnant female is actually likely to experience. We have assessed offspring reproductive development following treatments designed to reflect husbandry and management conditions that pregnant sheep or pigs encounter. Female offspring of s...

Introduction: Pregnancy and lactation result in increasing maternal appetite and adiposity, which in humans may lead to long-term weight retention. Previous studies in this area are limited, but some suggest that the appetite-inhibiting (anorexigenic) gut hormone peptide-YY (PYY) is increased in lactation, despite hyperphagia. This work characterised changes in orexigenic (appetite-stimulating) ghrelin and anorexigenic PYY and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) and gut architectur...

Introduction: Prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) is mainly known to be involved in luteolysis. However, our recent studies indicate that PGF2α synthesis and its receptor (PTGFR) expression are up-regulated in the porcine endometrium during embryo implantation. Aims of present study were: i) to immunolocalize PTGFR protein in uterus; ii) to elucidate the involvement of PGF2α-PTGFR signaling in angiogenesis in the porcine endometrium.Methods: Se...

Introduction: Previous studies have established that litter size during lactation influences body size and adiposity in male rat pups, but female pups and appetite-regulatory hormones have not been studied in this way. Gastrointestinal hormones ghrelin and peptide-YY (PYY) have roles in appetite regulation: high ghrelin levels signal hunger high PYY levels signal satiety. Both hormones are also associated with altered body mass and body composition. Previous findings (SRF 2014...

Introduction: Following labour, the uterus rapidly returns to its pre-pregnancy state. Exact mechanisms underlying labour and postpartum involution are not fully understood but inflammation is understood to play a key role. It has been hypothesised that rather than initiating or propagating labour, inflammation may prime the uterus for extensive postpartum tissue repair and remodelling, in a manner akin to repair in exercising skeletal muscle. This study aims...

Introduction: The primary treatment of infertility is assisted reproductive technology (ART). However, removal of an oocyte from its natural environment and exposure to in vitro conditions diminishes oocyte quality during the process of ART. In our preliminary studies we have shown that oocytes express cytoprotective ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels. Therefore, the aim of our study was to elucidate whether activation of these channels protects hu...

In several mammalian species, a major remodelling of the germinal vesicle chromatin is known to occur towards the end of the oocyte growth. Various chromatin configurations have been identified. However, the mechanisms involved in this remodelling process are yet not completely understood. In the bovine species, four distinct and progressive states of chromatin compaction have been characterized and are linked to a gradual acquisition of the developmental potential. Germinal v...

Introduction: This study determined whether the way in which pregnant ewes were handled affected gonad development in their offspring.Methods: Twin-bearing Scottish Blackface × Border Leicester ewes were either handled minimally (control, C, n=20), positively (predictable timings, soft vocal tones etc. P, n=20) or negatively (random timings, shouting and whistling etc. N, n=20) between day 65 and 100 of pregnancy. Followin...

Introduction: Following IVF, blastocysts produced from oocytes recovered from gilts fed a high fibre diet for the preceding 19 days contained more cells than blastocysts from oocytes of control-fed gilts. Oocytes were collected on day 19 of the gilts’ third oestrous cycle and matured in 10% of their own follicular fluid (FF), suggesting that FF may confer the reproductive benefits. The current study compared the protein composition of pooled FF from six high fibre-fed pig...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate fertility of vitrified rat matured-oocytes with surrounding cumulus cells after IVF with cryopreserved sperm. Oocytes with surrounding cumulus cells and cumulus cells denuded oocytes were vitrified with 30% (v/v) ethylene glycol+0.5 M sucrose+20% (v/v) FCS in PBS (PB1) by using Cryotop. After warming, oocytes were co-cultured with fresh or cryopreserved epididymal sperm for 10 h. Although the fertilization (two pronuclei formation: ...