Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Early developmental events in the testis set the scene for future spermatogenesis. After birth, gonocytes, the precursors to type-A spermatogonia reproliferate and become transiently motile in a poorly understood process. Aberrations are associated with altered fertility or pre-malignant states. Gonocytes exist as overlapping subpopulations at varying developmental stages, which makes them difficult to study.Materials and methods: Transgeni...

Early pregnancy loss (EPL) affecting between 6 and 15% of equine pregnancies remains a significant issue for the £3.5 billion Thoroughbred breeding and equestrian industries. Very little is known about the causes of pregnancy failure in the horse, although it is likely to involve a multitude of failed physiological processes and/or environmental insults. Our laboratory aims to identify key mechanisms that regulate the differentiation and function of trophoblast cells in b...

Hyperandrogenism and dysregulated follicle development both characterise polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), however little is known about how androgens affect early preantral follicle development. Recent evidence suggests that androgens may act, in part, through non-classical modulation of growth factor signalling pathways. Members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family play a role in promoting preantral follicle development in the mouse, with receptor subtypes EGFR, ErbB2...

In a previous study, following IVF, oocytes from gilts fed a high fibre diet for the first 19 days of their third oestrous cycle, produced blastocysts with more cells than oocytes from control-fed gilts. We hypothesise that FF protein composition is altered by the diet and that this confers the reproductive benefits.The current study compared the protein composition of pooled Day 19 FF from 12 high fibre-fed pigs and 12 control-fed pigs in search of biom...

Each egg, when ovulated from a follicle, is surrounded by cumulus cells. Prior to ovulation, these cumulus cells secrete cumulus extracellular matrix (cECM) molecules, resulting in cumulus expansion. Cumulus expansion has been linked to the developmental quality of the oocyte. Hyaluronan (HA), the major constituent of the cECM, is stabilised by molecules such as heavy chains (HCs), pentraxin 3 (PTX3) and tumour necrosis factor-stimulated gene 6 (TSG6) during expansion. All of ...

Background: Waddlia chondrophila (W. chondrophila) is an emerging abortifacient pathogen which has been identified in the placentae of humans and cattle. The organism is a member of the order Chlamydiales, and shares many similarities at the genome level, and in growth studies, with other well-characterised zoonotic chlamydial abortifacients, such as Chlamydia abortus (C. abortus). We have previously observed significant responses i...

Introduction: It is understood that active agents in seminal fluid are key to initiating and coordinating mating-induced immunomodulation. This study aimed to characterise the structure of a network of cytokines whose interactions are thought to underpin this process in rats and mice.Methods: Seminal fluid, collected from isolated seminal glands, and serum, collected by cardiac puncture, were obtained from sexually mature Wistar rats (n=20) and ...

Globally, malnutrition is the single greatest threat to public health. Maternal malnutrition during pregnancy is detrimental to foetal development and increases the risk of many chronic diseases in later life. Neurological consequences include increased risk of schizophrenia and abnormal anxiety-related behaviour. Previous studies have shown that maternal protein restriction has a negative effect on foetal brain development in vivo and we previously showed an effect o...

Introduction: Several studies support the notion that in vitro pre-maturation treatments aimed to improve the developmental capability of immature oocytes have a different effect depending on the oocyte metabolic status at the time of its removal from the follicle. We demonstrated that changes in large-scale chromatin configuration within the germinal vesicle (GV) of fully-grown bovine oocytes are related to the acquisition of developmental competence. In particular, ...

Although GH receptor (GHR) gene deletion causes a hereditary dwarfism and also shows a longer lifespan, the fact was shown only in mice. Because it was difficult to generate knockout (KO) animals other than mice. Recently, the generation of KO animals became possible without difficulty due to advances in genome editing technologies such as transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN). In the present study, we examined the effect of cRNA concentration microinjected cy...