Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Exposure to an adverse environment around the time of conception can program adult onset disease although mechanisms involved are unclear. Recently we showed that periconceptional alcohol (PC:EtOH) consumption causes placental stress demonstrated by elevated levels of 11βHSD-2, and sex-specific increases in placental glucose transporters and glycogen accumulation. O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT), an X-linked gene product, res...

In recent years, advances in molecular biology and reproductive engineering make generation of knockout (KO) animals possible. KO animals are useful and powerful tools for agriculture as well as biomedical research. Zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) and transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) genome editing technology enables site directed engineering of the genome. The aim of the present study was to ZFN and TALEN system could work on editing genome of cultured porcin...

Introduction: The zona pellucida (ZP) is an extracellular matrix that surrounds mammalian oocytes. Marsupial ZP has been considered formed by three proteins. However, the recent description of four glycoproteins (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3, and ZP4) in the ZP of some species of eutherian (rat, human, hamster, rabbit) suggests the need for a reanalysis of the ZP composition in marsupials.Material and methods: Complementary DNA was obtained from ovaries from one Austra...

Early embryo development is an exquisitely sensitive period of the developmental continuum, profoundly influencing neonatal and adult health. Maternal and paternal hyperglycaemia is associated with long-term health complications including increased risk of miscarriage, altered birth weight, and increased incidence of diabetes and metabolic syndrome in adult life. The mechanisms underlying this intergenerational transmission of disease remain unclear. New evidence has implicate...

Disruptions during epigenetic reprogramming in developing germ cells may result in the introduction of germline epimutations. These epimutations may cause aberrant gene expression in the developing germline and in the parent’s offspring. This project investigates the impacts of functionally depleting the essential epigenetic modifier polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) on germline formation and development in the next generation. To achieve this we are examining a mouse ...

Introduction: Peptide-YY (PYY) is a satiety hormone secreted by the colon. We have previously shown that PYY significantly increases in early lactation in rats, despite hyperphagia. Increased PYY may be associated with significantly increased gut growth by late lactation in dams with average-sized litters. Our aim was to determine whether feeding different litter sizes influences postpartum changes occurring during the maternal adaptation to lactation.Ma...

Exosomes are recognized as new mediators of intercellular cell signaling between neighboring cells and distant tissues, acting independently but synergistically with growth factors and hormones. Trophoblast and stromal cells of the villi were identified as a source of exosomal miRNAs released into the maternal circulation. In this study we hypothesized that miRNAs participating in the embryo–maternal dialog are released into the maternal blood stream during early pregnanc...

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: 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...